Miriam Margolyes

Miriam Margolyes opened up about the health problems she lives with and issued a warning to others on how one of them could be prevented

Miriam Margolyes has shared an update on a health problem she has lived with for more than 40 years. The 84-year-old revealed she suffers from a long-term shoulder injury that means she is unable to put on a bra by herself.

Reflecting on being filmed in her bra for her latest documentary Miriam Margolyes Made Me Me, she said on The Romesh Ranganathan Show: “I did have that new bra on and it did me the world of good.

I need several people to put it on for me and I’m on my own at the moment.

“The problem is, I’ve got a bad shoulder, I’ve had it for a long time actually because I didn’t know how to fall and I had to fall in a play for six months about 40 years and the rotator cuff doesn’t quite cuff or rotate, whatever it should do.

“So, I can’t put my hands behind my back. I can manage with an apron because it’s lower down, but with a bra it’s a little bit [more difficult] and you have to sort of arrange your t**s into it.

“And I need help basically, so my lodgers do bra duty, but I haven’t got them with me today so I had to do it myself,” the actress shared.

In the same podcast, the Harry Potter star opened up about what she considers the “worst bit” of being in her eighties.

Asked for advice by Romesh’s mother, she said: “The worst bit about being 80 is my weak pelvic floor. I p**s myself all the time and everywhere I go I always take spare knickers because you never know.

“And that’s honestly the truth and I don’t like it and I don’t say it to be funny, I say it because it’s true and it’s a bl***y nuisance,” Miriam added.

“But if I done pelvic floor exercises maybe I wouldn’t be so p***y. So do your pelvic floor exercises,” she warned.

On a more positive note, the actress said the “best thing” about turning 80 is the confidence she now feels when meeting new people.

“The best thing about being 80 and I’m going to be 85 [soon], is not being afraid to meet people, not being afraid to go into a room and just be.

“Sometimes, that’s because people know who I am and they’re sort of starstruck because they think I’m a star, but it gives me confidence.

“I feel more empowered to be and go into a room and talk to people,” she added.

Miriam has faced a number of other health challenges over the years, including undergoing an aortic valve replacement in 2023. She also lives with Spinal stenosis, which has affected her mobility.

She previously told Closer Magazine: “I can’t walk very well, and I’m registered disabled. I use all kinds of assistance. I’ve got two sticks and a walker and they’re such a bore, but I’ve just got a mobility scooter, which is a lot of fun.”

Actress Miriam Margolyes opened up about a significant change in her relationship, after spending most of it living apart from her partner

Miriam Margolyes has revealed she’s making an “important” change to her long-standing relationship with partner Heather Sutherland. The 84-year-old and her Australian other half, who formalised their civil partnership in 2013, have spent 58 years together, though have never lived under the same roof permanently.

Miriam is based in London and Heather calls the Dutch capital of Amsterdam home, but the pair make every effort to maximise their time together.

Though their professional commitments have kept them geographically separated, the actress has now disclosed her desire for them to finally settle down as a couple.

She revealed: “I believe that but now I want to be with her, now I want us to live together. We are definitely going to.

“We were both very involved with our careers, we were both professional women, she was a professor at a university, teaching and writing and I was an actress and now I make television programmes, as a documentary maker,” she added.

“But, we are old and we won’t have much longer, it’s important to be together to relish the joy of each other’s company.”

The Call The Midwife favourite became even more effusive when describing her “overwhelmingly glorious” partner, admitting she has never tired of Heather’s presence.

During an appearance on the Comfort Eating with Grace Dent podcast, she continued: “I have never thought that she wasn’t sufficient, she is more than sufficient.

“She is overwhelmingly glorious and loveable and much cleverer than me, much, and I think that’s important.

“I don’t want to be the clever one,” the actress concluded. The pair are believed to have first crossed paths through a mutual friend while collaborating on a BBC radio drama during the 1960s.

In the following decade, they purchased a property together in Italy, where they frequently retreat and aspire to make their permanent home.

The Made Me Me star disclosed last year that she’d been dividing more of her time between countries to see Heather, though she must “come home every so often” due to visa restrictions.

Following Brexit, British citizens can stay in the Schengen Area for up to 90 days in any 180-day period without a visa or residence permit.

“So I’m thinking I might have to become Dutch,” she told the Daily Mail. “Heather has residency in Europe because she’s lived in Amsterdam for over 50 years, but we want to be together.”

Miriam returns to television this evening with her latest BBC programme, which evolved from what was originally conceived as a podcast into a full documentary.

A film crew shadows the performer as she documents her everyday life and career, from travelling between London and Australia and reconnecting with long-time friends to taking to the stage and even experiencing a royal encounter.

Miriam Margolyes Made Me Me airs tonight at 9pm on BBC Two