However, Emily Blunt’s destiny and a high school instructor had other plans for her. Jo Elvin learns how the agonisingly shy teenager with a crippling stammer ended up becoming one of her generation’s most renowned actors.
Hollywood celebrities go to great lengths to demonstrate their relatability. The ultimate test of it, though, came to light unexpectedly during my conversation with Emily Blunt.
Imagine the following scenario: An hour after arriving in Spain, the British actress is Zooming me from her hotel room. I’m in my house in London. We’re having a great time talking, covering topics like her successful profession and her famous marriage, when something embarrassing occurs on my end.
My dog entered the room, but I didn’t see her, but then we both heard her. hurling up.
Emily adds, “Oh gosh, I can hear it, that’s gross,” with her hands covering her face and her shoulders trembling in amusement.
I feel terrible. I have a dog, Emily says with a shrug. who regularly vomits. I can wait if you need to go clean things up.
I then urge her to make me feel better by telling me a funny story, and the narrative she tells me gives me a great understanding of the woman she has become. She replies, taking sips of water from a huge bottle, “I was ten years old, it was Christmas, and everyone at school was dressed as festive characters.
I owned the entire peasant cap set. And when a teacher asked me in front of the entire class who I had come as, I stumbled – Ts were particularly difficult for me – and I just couldn’t say it. It was terrible. I can only recall saying “Guess, guess” to her since I was unable to speak anything else. It appeared to continue on forever.
She continues, “A stammer is such a terrible imposter in your body.” It absolutely misrepresents who you are, so that is all that people see. People are frequently bullied and made fun of because they talk strange and look funny when they do. and misconstrued. It’s a biological handicap that is typically genetic, but people don’t understand that.
It’s remarkable to consider how Tiny Tim’s life actually turned out; the traumatised seven-year-old stutterer who went on to become one of the most renowned actors of her generation. She currently works as a campaigner for the American Institute for Stuttering and, in that capacity, has been known to show up at the doorsteps of young people who stammer to provide them support and advise. For Emily, it was a high school instructor that inspired her to explore acting as a stutter management technique.