Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Judi ‘sick with nerves’ in cab
DAME Judi Dench was once kicked out of a cab for vomiting on the back seat.
Despite decades of performing, the 86-yearold actress told how she still gets “ill with nerves” if she has to speak in public.
Judi told Candis magazine: “I was asked to open the Chelsea Antiques Fair and I was so terrified, I was sick in the taxi on the way.
“By the time I got there, it had started without me so it was one way of getting out of doing it!”
Waving to her fiance from the bottom of the stairs, Corinne Emsley couldn’t believe it was the closest she’d been to her partner in nearly a year.
The couple got engaged last Valentine’s Day and were excited for their future together.
However, thanks to Covid, they have only seen each other five times – over five separate days – since Andrew, 50, popped the question.
It could have spelled disaster but Corinne, 51, says nothing could get in the way of their love.
“I met Andrew when we were both working for Jet2 in 2017,” says Corinne, from Leeds. “We’re both daft and like a good joke and pranking each other, and our relationship grew.
“When Andrew proposed on Valentine’s Day in the Maldives it was a shock but a great start to the holiday.
“But as soon as we landed back home, Covid had hit and the lockdown was announced. So now I’ve only seen Andrew five times in the whole year because we don’t live together and he was poorly and shielding.” Andrew suffers from diabetes and had an operation in December to remove a diabetic lump behind his chest – a rare complication of the condition.
Corinne says: “It’s been awful. We missed his birthday last April, then we
missed Christmas because we couldn’t see each other and we missed my birthday in January too. It’s our anniversary on February 14 but it’s not looking good for that either.”
Corinne adds: “I saw him twice taking him to and from hospital and twice after doing some grocery shopping for him.
“The closest we’ve been is when I took his Christmas presents to his house and dropped them off in the hallway, while he stayed at the top of the stairs.
“I think I’ll cry when I get to see him properly and give him a hug.”
But despite their difficult circumstances, Corinne and Andrew’s love has never waned.
Corinne says: “What we’ve been through has definitely made us feel a stronger bond for each other.
“We video-chat two or three time a day and text each other all day long as well.
“We’ve been talking about moving in. And when we can travel again, we want to get married in Kenya.
“But for now, we’re just going to have to put up with it.”