Miriam Margolyes ‘scared of dying from coronavirus’

Actor Miriam Margolyes has said she’s ‘scared’ of dying from coronavirus, just weeks after receiving backlash for her comments on previously wanting Prime Minister Boris Johnson to die after he contracted Covid-19.

The Harry Potter star admitted her ‘morale is almost at rock bottom’ at the moment, as the 79-year-old continued to remain in lockdown amid the pandemic.

Adding she’s ‘frightened’ of dying from the respiratory illness and is ‘coping very badly’ with the situation, Margolyes opened up on the Grounded With Louis Theroux podcast this week.

She said: ‘My morale is almost at rock bottom, I get my pleasures from contact with people, that is what I enjoy and when I’m cut off from people as I have to be at the moment, I don’t do very well.

‘I read, I watch television a lot, I think a bit, but I wouldn’t say that I’m having a very good time.’

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Margolyes added that her partner is currently in the Netherlands, as she went on: ‘It is unprecedented for all of us of course, and I’m disappointed in myself to be so wimpy about things.’

Speaking about her fear of catching the disease, that has so far killed more than 397,000 worldwide, she said: ‘I’m frightened, I’m frightened of dying, less frightened than I used to be but I’m frightened of dying of this illness because it’s really unpleasant.

‘It’s scary, I’m scared. So I’m really not having a good time.’

The star added she wished she was something who could ‘handle anything, but actually I can’t’.

Margolyes continued: ‘I thought… I was more substantial, but I’m not.

‘I have to admit that I am an insubstantial thing. I am totally alone and I’m nearly 79 and I’m not good at housework.’

She added that as she doesn’t cook (but she can ‘microwave brilliantly’), all she can really do it talk and read.

It comes after her comments on the Prime Minister following his own battle with Covid-19 – in which he was placed in intensive care in hospital – sparked outrage, following her appearance on The Last Leg.

During her segment on the show back in May, Margolyes said: ‘I wanted him to die. Then I thought that will reflect badly on me and I don’t want to be the sort of person that wants people to die.

‘So then I wanted him to get better, which he did do, he did get better. But he didn’t get better as a human being. And I really would prefer that.’

Grounded With Louis Theroux is available to listen to on BBC Sounds every Monday and BBC Radio 4 every Wednesday at 8pm.

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