Did you know Cher, Jennifer Aniston and Gwen Stefani are dyslexic? 7 Hollywood and music stars who didn’t let a learning disorder get in the way of success
Pop icon Gwen Stefani was recently diagnosed with dyslexia, a learning disorder related to reading and language, at age 51. Stefani discovered her condition while seeking support for her three sons’ learning difficulties (dyslexia has hereditary aspects).
The No Doubt frontwoman told Good Morning America that her sons “have these incredible teachers and schools and they don’t have to have shame about it” while reflecting that her own undiagnosed dyslexia had affected her self-esteem for decades.
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Cher
The entertainment legend and activist was only diagnosed with dyslexia and dyscalculia (a learning disability related to numbers and arithmetic) in her thirties, when she brought her son Chaz to get tested.
Cher had previously dropped out of school at age 16. As she struggles with numbers and reading, her mother later encouraged her to leave her business affairs to ex-husband Sonny Bono, with disastrous results.
Post-divorce, Cher would reclaim her financial independence and give the iconic quote “mum, I am a rich man” in response to her mother’s suggestion she remarry for wealth.
Jennifer Aniston
Aniston discovered her dyslexia in her twenties during a routine exam for prescription glasses. She revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that, before her diagnosis, “I thought I wasn’t smart. I just couldn’t retain anything.”
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Salma Hayek
Hayek’s early dyslexia diagnosis helped her succeed academically and pursue a political science degree at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. But her struggles intensified when she moved from her native Mexico to the USA, where she could hardly read street signs.
Whoopi Goldberg
The EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) winner and television host credits her supportive and adaptive mother with affirming her self-esteem. Although a lack of diagnosis in childhood led peers to question Goldberg’s intelligence, she told the Academy of Achievement that, “I knew I wasn’t stupid, and I knew I wasn’t dumb. My mother told me that.”
Now one of the most awarded entertainers of all time, Goldberg works around her dyslexia by having text read aloud or audio-recorded for her.
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Keira Knightley
The story of how Keira Knightley requested an agent at the age of three is a well-documented one. What fewer people know, however, is that her wish finally came true at age six, and only after agreeing to accept professional help for her (then-recently diagnosed) dyslexia.
Octavia Spencer
Thanks to a supportive school environment, not only was Oscar-winner Spencer able to receive support for her dyslexia, teachers realised her problem-solving skills exceeded that of her peers.
“I was a dyslexic child and am a dyslexic adult; that doesn’t really mean that you’re not intelligent – it just means that your brain functions differently,” Spencer once told entertainment news agency WENN. In addition to being an actress, she is also a children’s book author.
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The No Doubt frontwoman recently got the news at age 51, but she isn’t the only star who was diagnosed later in life – so was Oscar-winner Whoopi Goldberg – while Salma Hayek and Keira Knightley learned they had the disorder as children