Harry Potter star reassures fans with health update after 'death's door' worries

Actress Miriam Margolyes talks about assisted dying and 'letting her body down' in new health update.

Harry Potter and Call the Midwife star Miriam Margolyes has given fans an update on her health after she dismissed the suggestion last month that she was at "death's door" despite concerns.

Miriam has continuously been open about her health over the years, with this latest update including a chat about her mobility and how he fears she has 'let her body down' has time as gone on.

This update comes ahead of the highly anticipated release of the BAFTA winner's memoir the Little Book of Miriam, which is set to hit the shelves next month, reports the Mirror.

Over the years, the 84-year-old has discussed a series of health issues she has faced, such as spinal stenosis - which includes limb pain and weakness in its potential symptoms - and arthritis.

Additionally, the actress shared that she now has mobility aids and she predicted last year that she had up to six years left to live.

In a newly released interview with the Daily Mail, Miriam shared that she regrets not exercising when she was younger and as a result has "let her body down" as she suggested she hadn't taken care of it.

She said: "I've let my body down. I haven't taken care of it. I have to walk with a walker now." While she did describe exercising as the "most ghastly waste of time", she did admit that it keeps people going and that she had been "foolish" in regards to her own health.

Miriam admitted that she will pursue assisted dying if she reaches a point where she feels she is deteriorating in "pain and embarrassment".

She said: "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."

This health update comes amid Miriam's return to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with a show called Margolyes and Dickens: More Best Bits. Before the show's launch, organiser Fane Productions shared a video of the actress reassuring fans that she was "very much alive".

In the video posted last month, she was seen to dismiss speculation that she was "at death's door" and was in fact "raring to go" for her latest show at the popular festival.

Miriam can be heard saying in the video: "B******s. I'm very much alive and raring to go to the Edinburgh Fringe this year."

Last year, Miriam shared that she wants to continue performing until she passes away, despite telling the Telegraph that she predicts she has up to six years left to live.

She described her job as an actor as "such a joy" and said: "When you know that you haven't got long to live – and I’m probably going to die within the next five or six years, if not before ... I'm loath to leave behind performing."

She also expressed that she finds the physical impact of her body aging to be "depressing" and "limiting". She explained: "I want to be able to play parts that aren't just sitting in wheelchairs, but I'm not strong enough."