Emily Blunt says acting helped her overcome her childhood stutter.
The ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ star – who has Hazel, four, and Violet, two, with her husband John Krasinski – had a speech impediment when she was growing up and she used to focus on "watching and listening" to people because she "couldn’t speak fluently".
She said: "Because I couldn’t speak fluently, I watched and listened. I’d be on the Tube, and I’d wonder about people and invent back stories for everyone. There’s always been a natural desire to walk in the shoes of others. It started quite young, because it was the only tool I had to speak properly. I was that kid, upstairs in my room, trying out stuff in the mirror. But I’d never tell anyone about it. It was always very private."
And the 35-year-old actress admits she "didn’t have a desire to pursue acting".
She added to Harper’s Bazaar magazine: "I didn’t have a desire to pursue acting and I wouldn’t have, if I hadn’t fallen into it. Crazy, isn’t it? But that’s probably why I ended up booking jobs, because I didn’t have any nerves. It was very charmed – rather embarrassingly, in fact."
Meanwhile, Emily previously revealed she thinks overcoming a childhood stutter has helped to shape her as an adult as the bullying she suffered taught her some important life lessons.
She shared: "I think whatever you have to overcome in life ultimately paves the way [for whom you become as an adult]. I got teased a lot, and to this day, I hate unkindness in people and bullies."
Emily Blunt: Acting helped me with my childhood stutter
