As Halloween approaches, we find ourselves looking to the stars for costume inspiration. But why not look at some stars who have actually inspired the stuttering community?
- Tiger Woods – As we recently posted about this athlete on our Instagram page, he is the definition of practice makes perfect. He shared this quote during an interview: ‘The words got lost somewhere between the brain and the mouth.’ His experience with stuttering influenced his decision to open the Tiger Woods Learning Center in 2006.
- Emily Blunt – The “go–to” name when we think of a celebrity who stutters. Her path for stuttering therapy was interesting, as her speech therapist actually recommended her to try different accents to decrease her stutter. That therapy technique has now made her who she is today!
- Bruce Willis – He has shared an ironically similar story as Emily’s, stating that ‘When I got on stage, I stopped stuttering. When I stepped off the stage, I started stuttering again. And I went, ‘This is a miracle. I got to investigate this more.” Another inspiring story of using their stutter to embrace their talents!
- Marilyn Monroe – This celebrity legend adapted an interesting way of speech due to her stuttering. You may have noticed she had a sort of “breathy” voice, almost whispering-like. Many people assumed this was due to the demeanor she was going for, but really it was her way to “glide” through stuttering.
- Elvis Presley – Along with Marilyn Monroe, he is a celebrity legend who also stuttered. Just like many of the other stars, he used his stuttering technique to his advantage, in this case, singing.
Along with these 5 stars, many many others have shared their experiences with stuttering as a child and/or as an adult. One thing all these individuals had in common was that they didn’t let their stuttering define them. In a way, their stuttering gave them their success, either by acting or singing or by simply teaching the value of practice and hard work.