Female celebrities who you'd never guess had dyslexia
Many female celebs like Cher and Jennifer Aniston struggle with dyslexia
Dyslexia is a neurological condition that causes a learning disorder. Per Mayo Clinic, dyslexia causes difficulty in reading "due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words (decoding)." While Tom Cruise has become the poster boy for Hollywood's dyslexics, there are several female A-listers who have had successful careers despite being diagnosed with dyslexia too.
Cher
Cher was diagnosed with dyslexia when her son Chaz Bono faced difficultiues in reading when he was 10 years old. Sharing her experience, Cher wrote in her autobiography 'The First Time', “I told them how my mind raced ahead of my hand, how I’d skip letters in the middle of a word. I told them how I kept transposing numbers, and that I’d get so cranky trying to dial long-distance calls that someone would finally have to take the phone and dial the number for me,” before adding, “It was like a big, Ohhh…Now I understood everything, why I had so much trouble with school. It all fit together.”
Keira Knightley
The 'Pride and Prejudice' actress has another Jane Austen's adaptation to thank for her mastering the difficulties posed by dyslexia. Referring to Emma Thompson's award-winning screenplay of 'Sense and Sensibility', Knightley told the GQ magazine that "My mum, who worked with her on Sense and Sensibility got me a copy of the screenplay Emma had written," before adding, "And I was – am – dyslexic and the way she got me over it was to say: 'If Emma Thompson couldn't read, she'd make ------- sure she'd get over it, so you have to start reading, because that's what Emma Thompson would do'," per The Guardian.
Whoopi Goldberg
The EGOT winning actress Whoopi Goldberg knew she was different from her childhood because of her supportive mother, as she said in an interview with Child Mind Institute. "I had a mother who understood after a while that there was something different about the way I learned,” said Goldberg, who got her diagnosis in her adulthood. 'The View' host added that dyslexia made her “more introspective." She explained, "[It] made me more thoughtful, maybe slightly slower in how I do things because it takes me a minute sometimes to figure things out."
Jennifer Aniston
In 2015, the 'FRIENDS' actress shared about her dyslexia diagnosis, saying she found out she had the condition when she went to get her eyes checked. She told The Hollywood Reporter, “I thought I wasn’t smart. I just couldn’t retain anything,” before adding that the discovery was life-changing. “Now I had this great discovery. I felt like all of my childhood trauma-dies, tragedies, dramas were explained,” she revealed.
Salma Hayek
Mexican-born actress Salma Hayek was diagnosed with dyslexia in her teenage years. However, her above-average intelligence helped as she was a fast learner, overcoming the learning impediment. But things changed when she came to the US and she had to learn English, a foreign language to her. However, she later said in an interview, "It doesn’t bother me now," before adding, "Some people read really fast, but you’ll ask them questions about the script and they’ll forget. I take a long time to read a script, but I read it only once. I directed [The Maldonado Miracle], and I never brought the script to the set."
Alyssa Milano
The 'Charmed' actress Alyssa Milano is dyslexic and she is proud of it. Milano once wrote on her Instagram, "As some of you may know, I am dyslexic, and to me, dyslexia is 'my super power.'"
Liv Tyler
Orlando Bloom is not the only 'Lord of the Rings' star to have dealt with dyslexia. Actress Liv Tyler has also been diagnosed with the neurological condition that impairs her reading, per Daily Mail.
Octavia Spencer
Oscar-winning actress and author Octavia Spencer overcame the difficulties in reading through the help of her mother and teachers. Identifying her strengths, the 'Zootopia' star pursued her career in creative arts.