Harry Potter star says she ‘doesn’t have long to live’ after heart operation
HARRY Potter star Miriam Margolyes has revealed she "doesn't have long to live" after undergoing a major heart operation.
The actress, 83, known for playing Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter franchise, had a procedure called transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in 2023.
This involved having her heart valve replaced by one taken for a cow after suffering a health scare.
Miriam said she is convinced her life expectancy is now around five or six years as she shared a new update.
The TV star said: "When you know that you haven't got long to live – and I'm probably going to die within the next five or six years, if not before, I'm loath to leave behind performing. It's such a joy."
"I yearn to play roles that don't confine me to wheelchairs, but I'm just not strong enough," she added in a new interview with The Times.
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Miriam, who has appeared in a host of TV shows including Blackadder, Dr Who and Call The Midwife, previously opened up about her health issues on the Table Manners podcast with Jessie and Lennie Ware.
She said: "I've got a cow's heart now. Well, not the whole heart. I've had an aortic valve replaced by a cow's aortic valve."
When singer Jessie asked if that was quite a common thing, Miriam joked: "I think it's rather refined, actually!"
She continued: "I don't know how common it is. I'd never heard of that operation. But it saves you from having open heart surgery, which would be infinitely more invasive."
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Miriam, who won a Bafta for her role in Martin Scorsese's The Age Of Innocence, went on to explain the incredible technique doctors used to perform the operation.
She revealed: "They made two little holes in your groin. One in each groin and then they shoved this thing through.
"And I don't know how they pull it up but they sort of pull it up with stereos. And then when it comes to the point, when it's in your heart, they pull a little string and it goes pow!
"And lo and behold, your artery or your aortic valve is shoved unceremoniously to the side."
Miriam sparked concern back in May 2023 when she was rushed to hospital with a chest infection.
She updated fans on social media with a snap of her on the ward.
Sharing a photo of her in a hospital gown from her bed, she said: "Thanks to my precious friends who thought of me on Tavi Day. I did survive and I am still in The Royal Brompton Hospital certainly till Sunday.
"I am growing energy but it's still not quite me."
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The star later told Vogue that she may have to go under the knife, following the "unexpected" health issue.
She revealed: 'When you're young, you never think about death. You just think about your next f*** basically. I think about death a lot."
