Miriam Margolyes shares thoughts on assisted dying amid ongoing health battles

Miriam Margolyes has candidly opened up about her desire to be able to access assistance in dying if she required it amid an ongoing health battle. The Harry Potter star has reflected on her life and health at length in recent days.

Having turned 84 earlier this year, Miriam has confessed she wished she had taken better care of her body - and admitted she is feeling her age now she is in her twilight years. And in one frank new interview, she has shared her thoughts on assisted suicide.

While assisted dying is not currently legal in the UK, a new bill has been proposed by the current government which could change this. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, if passed, could make it legal in England and Wales for a patient to request a termination of their own life in the coming years.

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Opening up to the Daily Mail's Weekend Magazine, Miriam shared her thoughts on her life - and how she may want to end it, should her health deteriorate. She explained: "I’ve let my body down. I haven’t taken care of it. I have to walk with a walker now.

"I wish I’d done exercise. It’s the most ghastly waste of time, except that it keeps you going. So, I’m foolish." And in a moving admission, she went on: "I don’t want to go through a slowly diminishing period of pain and embarrassment.

"If a stroke meant I couldn’t speak, or I was doubly incontinent, or I lost my mind completely, I would ask to be put down. That’s because I want to be who I am. I don’t want to be less than I can be."

Her new comments come just days after she explained that she feared she would die after going into hospital to have surgery performed on her knee.

Speaking to Dr Oscar Duke on a recent episode of the health-themed Bedside Manners podcast, the award-winning star said: "Well, this knee that he replaced is pretty damn good.

"This knee, which he didn't because I opted not to have both done at once, this knee needs to be done. It will not be done. I will not have any more operations."

When asked why, Miriam explained: "I think I wouldn't recover. I've had a TAVI, which is a replacement aortic valve done outside the chest, not with open-heart surgery.

"It was extremely well done, but I think that I am vulnerable now, and I don't think I would survive an operation, so I'm not having one."

The commentary comes amid Miriam's return to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with the show Margolyes and Dickens: More Best Bits. Prior to its launch, a video shared by organiser Fane Productions showed Miriam assuring that she was "very much alive".

In the video, which was posted on social media last month, she was seen saying that fans "might have seen" speculation that she was "at death's door". Miriam however then dismissed the suggestion in the video message at the time.

She was seen teasing in the clip that she was "raring to go" for her latest show at the annual festival in Scotland. She was heard saying in the video: "B******s. I'm very much alive and raring to go to the Edinburgh Fringe this year."

Miriam has previously suggested that she has up to six years left to live. She made the prediction in an interview with the Telegraph that was published last year.

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