TV’s Holly: My battle with dyslexia left me fearing I was stupid
HOLLY Willoughby has opened up about her battle with dyslexia and a childhood fear of being branded stupid.
The This Morning presenter, 39, revealed that even the thought of reading as a child used to terrify her.
She said: “I’ve struggled with dyslexia since I was young and it used to hold me back.
“At school, reading out loud absolutely terrified me because I’d get all the words wrong and I was convinced everybody thought I was stupid.
“It still happens now – most of the mistakes I make on This Morning are because of it, but it doesn’t do what it did to me back then because I don’t let it have the power.
“I now know that it’s all about how you package it in your head.”
Although she rarely opens up about her condition, the celebrity has previously shared her concern that it may be inherited by the three children she shares with husband Dan Baldwin, 45.
She said: “I do bear it in mind quite a lot. Although my mum hasn’t been officially tested she has very similar tendencies to me.
“I don’t know whether that’s hereditary or not, but I do think about that.
“Schools are so much more advanced in looking out for it than when I was at school.”
Dyslexia is a common learning difficulty that is estimated to affect up to one in every 10 to 20 people in the UK to some degree.
It causes problems with certain abilities used for learning, such as reading and writing, but does not reflect how intelligent someone is.
People with dyslexia may read and write very slowly, confuse the order of letters in words or have poor or inconsistent spelling.
Although the exact cause is not known, it often appears to run in families.
Holly, who started presenting This Morning alongside Phillip Schofield in 2009, has previously revealed that she checks the autocue in advance and uses coloured scripts to help her on the ITV show.
She also told Red magazine that turning 40 in February does not worry her either.
She added: “I’m forward to it.
“My 30s have been all about the kids – bringing them up, keeping all these balls afloat – but now they’re getting older, there’s a bit more space where I can start focusing on things that are happening for me.
“I see my 40s as a chance to find myself again and figure out who I am.” really looking