Mary Tyler Moore Hid Her Severe Blindness for 30 Years, Husband Reveals

Mary Tyler Moore was good at keeping secrets!

In a recent interview with a news outlet, the late The Mary Tyler Moore Show alum’s husband shared that she had been concealing her failing eyesight for over 30 years.

"Her significant visual loss actually started to be manifest in the late '80s," Dr. Robert Levine said. Moore’s widower also shared the icon "hid" her condition "very well" from the public eye.

The sitcom star's declining eyesight was caused by her type 1 diabetes diagnosis which she discovered at 34-years-old.

The Dick Van Dyke Show actress, who passed in 2017 at age 80, underwent "retinal photocoagulation therapy" in the late '80s for her condition.

"And so she was able to continue to read and to work but she had like, tunnel vision, where she really couldn’t see below her waist," Levine added, noting it "got progressively worse" from there.

He even mentioned how at the 2012 SAG award she had to get escorted from the podium, though it was not shown on camera.

"They brought the lights up and she was there," he explained of the event.

"And the reason for that was she could not walk safely across the stage at that point," he mentioned. "It stole her ability to be autonomous and independent and she couldn't read … Her joy was robbed from her. So it was devastating."

After Moore died, Levine created the Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative to raise money and awareness for diabetic retinal illness.

Moore and Levine married in 1983 when Moore was almost 20 years his senior. The pair originally met when the cardiologist was treating the legend's mother. During the appointment, Moore asked Levine if he knew the cure for “acute loneliness.”

Details of their love story were recently shared in the HBO documentary Being Mary Tyler Moore. The documentary explored all part of Moore's life including her career successes, her family tragedies — such as her sister’s suicide and her mother’s alcoholism — and the loss of her child and first husband.

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It also alluded to Moore's rocky relationship with her son before his death. Levine admitted Moore felt "alienated" by her child when he was young.

Page Six reported on Levine's comments.