Mary Tyler Moore Nearly Blind From Losing Battle With Diabetes

Emmy-Award winning actress Mary Tyler Moore is nearly blind from her battle with diabetes, according to friends of the star.

It's the latest struggle to beset the iconic star of the 1970s "The Mary Tyler Moore" show in recent years. Friends, like Dick Van Dyke, revealed to Closer Weekly magazine.

"I don't see her often, but I talk to her a bunch," said Van Dyke, who starred in "The Dick Van Dyke Show" with Moore, now 77, from 1961 to 1966. "She hasn't been too well. She's really having a battle with it, I'm sorry to say."

ALERT: Reverse Type 2 Diabetes. New Strategies Show How.

Betty White, a longtime friend of Moore's who co-starred with her on 'The Mary Tyler Moore" show from 1970 to 1977, told Closer that Moore has struggled with the disease since she was 33.

"Her eyesight is what the big problem is right now," said White. "(Her eyesight)
is almost beyond the point (of being able to see)."

In February, the National Enquirer revealed 911 calls made from the star's Greenwich, Connecticut, estate connected with domestic disputes with her husband, cardiologist Dr. Robert Levine, 59.

"Wife states her estranged husband is refusing to leave house," the National Enquirer quoted a Jan. 19 police report made after one of the calls. "She states he co-owns the home but normally does not reside there."

The National Enquirer said a friend of Levine told the tabloid on Feb. 3 that the couple still lives together.

"In regard to two recent 'domestic inci­dents,' it should be made abso­lutely clear that Robert never threatened Mary," the friend told the National Enquirer. "Robert loves Mary deeply…and any claims that he in any way has hurt his wife are outrageous and false."

Dr. Mark Atkinson, who has worked with Moore in connection with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, told Closer that Levine has been the driving force behind the star's care.

"With his background in medicine, he understands the disease," Atkinson said to the celebrity magazine, saying that the couple's relationship has been great. "We've laughed together, cried together, gotten disappointed together. They've just been the perfect couple."

Moore won Emmy and Golden Globe awards for "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and was nominated for a lead actress Oscar in 1981 for "Ordinary People."

ALERT: Reverse Type 2 Diabetes. New Strategies Show How.

Related Stories:

• Sante Kimes, Convicted of Murder With Her Son, Dies in NY Prison at 79
  
• Valerie Harper Voted Off 'Dancing With the Stars' (Video)