HOLLY'S SADNESS
Holly Willoughby opens up about dyslexia battle on This Morning as she reveals ‘shame’ at not being able to spell
HOLLY Willoughby opened up about her dyslexia battle on This Morning today, revealing her "shame" at not being able to spell.
The 40-year-old star and co-host Phillip Schofield interviewed William Carter on the programme, who has overcome severe dyslexia.
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Sharing her own experience with the learning disorder, Holly explained the importance of finding her "toolkit".
She said: "I'm dyslexic also and I had to find my own toolkit, and for me it was finding somebody who understood this that could teach me how to access those tools.
"At school it wasn't really that well known, but then I went to college and there is one lady in particularly that I remember - she gave me so much advice and for me that was my turning point."
She went on to detail how feelings of "shame" made her too scared to attempt writing in front of people due to the amount of spelling errors she would make.
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Holly explained: "For me, because I am not very good at spelling, for years I felt so shameful about that - I hated it, I absolutely hated it, I didn't like it at all.
"I would find myself in situations where I wouldn't be writing anything down in front of people because I wouldn't want them to see how bad it is…
"But now, when you take control of that back and go: 'Actually, I don't care', for me the most important thing is the communication.
"Now it doesn't bother me at all that I can't spell because actually the most important thing is communication, whether it's written down and spelt completly wrong it's the essence of what you're saying."
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Last year, the TV favourite said that after dyslexia shattered her confidence when she was younger she is ready to take the "power" back as she entered her 40s.
The mum-of-three told Red magazine at the time: "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 power. I now know that it’s all about how you package it in your head."
Holly uses coloured scripts to help her prepare for the daytime show.
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Holly Willoughby opens up about her dyslexia on This Morning
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She also said she worries for her three children as dyslexia can be hereditary.
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."
Last month, Holly admitted that she was "very emotional" after an old school friend overcame her own dyslexia to write a children's book.
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