Harry Potter Actress Says She'd Want To Be 'Put Down' If Her Health Keeps Declining, After Admitting She 'Doesn't Have Long Left'

A much-loved Harry Potter actress has revealed that she would want to be 'put down' if her health continues to decline, admitting to fans that she feels she 'doesn’t have long left to live'.

The 84-year-old British star, best known for playing Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films, spoke openly about how hard things have become for her recently.

In her interview with the Daily Mail, Miriam Margolyes confessed she is dealing with several health issues at once and admitted she feels as though she has 'let [her] 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," she said with her usual blunt honesty.

This isn’t the first time the actress, also known for her role in The Age of Innocence, has discussed her health battles. She has spoken before about being diagnosed with spinal stenosis and osteoporosis, conditions that have severely limited her mobility.

Back in July 2024, Margolyes told Closer Magazine: "I can't walk very well, and I'm registered disabled."

Miriam Margolyes has been candid about her health struggles David Levenson/Getty Images

"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."

Last year, she also told The Telegraph that she believes she hasn’t 'got long to live', estimating that she may only have five or six years left, if not sooner.

Now, the actress — who also holds Australian citizenship and dreams of settling down for good at the home she shares in Italy with her partner of almost six decades, Heather Sunderland — has revealed to Weekend Magazine that she would consider assisted dying if she ever lost her independence completely due to ill health.

The star has friends in the Royal family Aaron Chown - WPA Pool/Getty Images

"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," she explained.

Currently, assisted dying is legal in over 10 states in the U.S. but it remains against the law in the UK, where Margolyes lives.

Even so, the issue has been debated in British Parliament, and lawmakers voted in favor of a bill that could legalize assisted dying for terminally ill adults aged 18 or older.

If it is approved, the 'Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill' would allow patients who are mentally capable and have less than six months to live the right to end their lives with medical help. The decision would need approval from doctors and a panel made up of a social worker, a legal expert, and a psychiatrist.

The process is not the same as euthanasia, since in this case patients administer the life-ending medication themselves rather than having a doctor do it for them.

Margoyles has confessed her health has deteriorated in recent years Simon Schluter/Fairfax Media via Getty Images via Getty Images

Despite her serious comments, Margolyes still managed to show her trademark humor, making lighthearted remarks about her eating habits and lifestyle choices.

"I've limited my life because of my longing for fudge or chopped liver, cheesecake," she admitted during a chat on the How to Fail podcast. "All these absurdities. I shouldn't have been so greedy. I should have been stronger."