Judi Dench Tried to Have More Kids Yet She Was Turned Down — She Raised Her Only Grandson Years Later

While veteran star Judi Dench was happily married to her husband of three decades, Michael Williams, the Hollywood couple had only one child and were robbed of having more. Dench took comfort in raising her grandson, Sam, from the age of seven instead. He is now 27 years old.

English actress Judi Dench crossed paths with her future spouse, actor Michael Williams, in 1963 while he was on a nine-month Broadway tour.

At the time, she had just broken up with her then-boyfriend, Leonard Rossiter. However, Dench and Williams had known each other for nine years before their chemistry ignited one evening in the Dirty Duck pub in Stratford, where she had been performing the lead in "Twelfth Night."

After that night, Williams followed the Oscar Award-winning starlet on tour and proposed to her. But Dench declined the proposal until "a rainy night in Battersea."

The couple eventually got married in the 1970s. Williams and Dench had a blissful, enduring marriage that many people looked up to, especially in showbiz.

Though Williams' acting career had been successful – it was just not as high as Dench's, it slacked for less than 18 months and made him envious of his wife. He once expressed his "old-fashioned" view saying he should be the provider in the household:

"I am old-fashioned enough to think I should be providing the bread."

Dench married the "Educating Rita" star when she was 36 years old. During an interview with Vogue in May 2020, the "Skyfall" star revealed that the British native asked twice for her hand in marriage.

When Williams first popped the question, he and his "A Fine Romance" co-star were on tour in Australia, and she told him she could not agree to any proposal because the weather was good:

"We had better wait for a rainy day in Battersea."

And so, he waited, and the lovebirds wed on February 5, 1971. They remained married until Williams' death on January 11, 2001. Dench shared that her 30-year happy marriage to the "Lover Boy" star was effortless was based on "luck."

"I don't think we ever had to work at it," said the Dame, adding her late husband "was the most unselfish man" and that "he used to make me laugh" hysterically. Dench said she and Williams had a blast together:

"We had a lovely time. It was never a tricky time. I was lucky to meet Mike."

Dench & Williams Had One Child Together

Williams and Dench had one child, daughter Finty whom they welcomed on September 4, 1972. Per the Daily Mail, Dench admitted that once she had her child, she considered quitting her career to become a stay-at-home mom:

"I'd had a daughter and having a family; I wanted to be at home."

However, Williams advised her against the idea, and as a resort, she tried to adjust her working schedule to accommodate time spent with her newborn.

The mother of one explained that during the day, she was with Finty and that at night, she went to the theatre while her infant daughter was asleep. Things gradually changed when Finty started going to school, leaving room for flexibility in her mom's schedule.

"I could do things like television during the day to be with her in the evening," said Dench. When the "Belfast" star had her daughter, she was 37 years of age. Later in life, Dench admitted that her biggest regret was not having more kids:

"I wish we'd had lots more children. That's the only regret I have. But I was older, and it didn't happen."

Seeing that she and her husband had their child at a late stage in their lives, they were told that they were too old to adopt a sibling for their daughter:

"We tried to adopt a child, and they didn't like it because we were over 40 – and Michael was a Catholic, and I was a Quaker. It obviously wasn't meant to be."

Dench divulged that family was important to her, so she, Williams, and Finty shared their home with her widowed mother and his parents for 12 years. The doting mom said it was the father of her child's idea to have their loved ones cooped up with them, and she was thrilled at the thought.

"It was like a proper Quaker community, certainly for bringing up a child, but also the whole idea of looking after your parents," Dench said about their living arrangement.

She did note that it was not all rosy living with in-laws as there were times when there was "a lot of tension," leaving her "in tears quite often." Still, Dench said she has no regrets about the experience because "the good times quite outweighed the bad."

Dench's Struggle with Losing Her Spouse & Her Daughter's Issues

Dench revealed that Williams' death left her gutted when he died of lung cancer in 2001. The couple's daughter also endured her own struggles and admitted that she became an alcoholic.

In March 2005, Finty was involved in a car crash while driving under the influence of alcohol and was found to be more than three times the legal drink limit. Consequently, she was handed a suspended sentence.

The English native's vehicle was involved in a head-on collision with another car carrying a mother and her 18-month-old child on the opposite side of the road in Fetcham, Surrey.

A theatre producer who is a patron of a rehabilitation charity, Bill Kenwright, revealed to magistrates that Finty begged him to come to her rescue concerning her alcohol addiction.

Kenwright said she was aware that she had embarrassed her family and that words could only do so much to emphasize her deep regret:

"She has brought shame on herself, and she has brought shame on her family, and she recognizes that. Words can scarcely say the deep sense of shame and remorse she feels."

Kenwright disclosed that the mother of one had even distanced herself from her son, Sam, who was seven at the time, to receive treatment. He added that Finty had realized where she went wrong and "had fought her demons" and would ensure that history would not repeat itself for her child's sake.

While Finty was getting the help she needed, her mother stepped in to raise her son in her absence. The grandmother and grandson duo showcase their close bond on social media frequently.

In May 2021, Dame Dench and Sam appeared on "This Morning" and discussed how she became an overnight TikTok sensation amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Sam shared that after moving in with his grandparent, he suggested she try out the app, but she was "hesitant" because she was clueless about it or anything else online.

However, once Dench got the gist of how the app works, she became more interested in making videos. She chimed in, saying the issue for her was not using the medium but rather her grandchild's "strict" directing style.

Dench explained that she would get excited about filming for a clip, and Sam would shut her down, telling her that she was not ready. Instead, he encouraged her to practice until she got it right.

The Hollywood star's daughter was admitted to rehab in 2001, only two weeks following her father's death. Like her mom, Finty also found it challenging to deal with her dad's passing, and as a coping mechanism, she resorted to alcohol to numb the pain. However, she kept her word to do better for her son's sake and beat her addiction.

Finty told the Daily Mail in May 2022 that she has been "sober" for over a decade, adding that it dawned on her that she had to take charge of her life at some point:

"I have been sober for 16 years. I got to a stage where I had to go to rehab. I had to do something about it."

She learned about a holistic health center "in Arizona called Cottonwood du Tucson," which helps those admitted to the facility with their mental health issues and substance abuse disorders.

Apart from redeeming herself, Finty followed in her mother's footsteps and became an actress. She has even starred alongside her mom in movies such as "Ladies in Lavender," "The Importance of Being Earnest," and "Mrs. Brown." Finty also appeared in several TV shows.

Dench Found Love Again

Meanwhile, her mother never got over her father's death, with whom she lived for three decades. Dench admitted that she doubts she would ever heal from losing Williams: "I suspect I shall never ever get over Mikey."

The BAFTA Award winner shared more about her grief, saying the death of her spouse changed who she is, adding that she sometimes comes across his photo or something else that reminds her of him, and it all starts to haunt her all over again.

Dench said that was something she could not "get used to." According to her, at times, she imagines that Williams roams around the home they shared: "Sometimes the door in this house just opens, and I think that he's just wandered in."

The "Can You Hear Me Thinking" star and Dench moved into a 17th-century house that boasts six acres of property in Wasp, Green, Surrey, in 1995. She planted a tree in his memory as part of her memorial forest on the estate.

When asked how long it took her to make peace with the fact that Williams was no longer alive, Dench said she had no idea and figured that she never had to do that to begin with. She and the stage star actor were not only romantic partners but also co-stars.

Williams and Dench co-starred in the 1980s sitcom, "A Fine Romance," including several stage productions. They previously worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company and appeared in the 1999 movie, "Tea With Mussolini."

Although Dench still has her beloved husband in her heart, per The Sun, the film star found and fell in love with another man who became the closest person to her.

The "Casino Royale" star first met her future lover, David Mills, in 2010, when he invited her to open a squirrel enclosure. Sparks started flying instantly, and they had been together ever since.

Mills began his career as a dairy farmer and bagged awards for his herd of pedigree cows. Later, he converted the plot into a center of conservation, now known as the British Welfare Center.

The center has since become Britain's most prominent breeder of red squirrels, which are rare across the country. In 2016, Mills was awarded an MBE for his stellar work.

According to the outlet, Dench and the conservationist revealed in 2021 that after assessing their relationship during the COVID-19 lockdown, they planned to make things official by getting married.

Still, the couple backtracked on their idea of marriage despite their 10-year relationship. When discussing the concept of matrimony, the Academy Award winner expressed, "No, no, no, no, no," adding Mills would not ask her to marry him.

In August 2017, Dench got candid about interesting facts about her relationship dynamic with Mills in an interview with Good Housekeeping.

The acclaimed star divulged that she does not refer to her significant other as her "partner" and reportedly despises the word and would never call him that:

"Partner is something to do with dancing. Partner – horrible word. Friend? No. Boyfriend? No. Chap? Will chap do?"

The "Red Joan" star also shared how she and Mills spend time together, saying, "I have a jolly nice friend now. One hot night during the summer, we swam and then had a glass of champagne in the garden, and I said, 'This is so fantastic.'"

She added that she tends to be hyped about some things and loves "having a good laugh." Dench said having "a sense of humor" is "essential" and is "attractive." Notably, she revealed to Hello magazine that she prefers keeping details of her relationship with Mills low-key.