Mollie King felt "stupid" until she was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of 10.
The 31-year-old singer-turned-presenter gave a speech at the All-Party Parliamentary Group as an ambassador of the British Dyslexia Association about her experience on Wednesday (24.04.19), in which she candidly spoke of how much she used to fear reading out loud.
She said: "The prospect of reading out loud in class filled me with my dread. It got to the stage where I was so panicked that I’d make up an excuse to leave the room when it was my turn."
Luckily, one of The Saturdays star’s teachers picked up the signs of the reading disorder and suggested Mollie got tested, and the blonde beauty is "grateful" for the intervention because she was then given extra help to "navigate around" her problem.
She said: "I’m so grateful I was diagnosed in primary school, and not any later, because it was really starting to knock my confidence.
"Once I knew I was dyslexic, I was able to navigate around it. I was given extra time in exams because reading any passage of text took me so much longer than other students. Having a laptop to write down my answers really helped too."
Mollie still has to "focus really hard" in order to her read but words still "jump out" at her and her dyslexia has had an impact on her career.
She explained: "Whenever I was making an album with The Saturdays, we’d be given a lyric sheet before we went into the recording studio. My bandmates could go straight in and sing the melody as they read the lyrics.
"But I couldn’t read the lyrics quickly enough to sing them at the pace of the song. I’d have to learn the whole lyric sheet by heart before I went in. It was a case of putting in this extra effort to make sure I kept up.
"It’s the same in my presenting career. When I’m broadcasting live on Radio 1, I use the pauses when a song is playing to read texts from listeners over and over again. Because if a text is put in front of me and I have to read it on the spot, I probably won’t get it right.
"And when I guest presented ‘This Morning’ last summer, I would use the three-minute ad breaks to go over what was on the autocue as many times as possible. That way it would reduce my chances of making a mistake live on air, in front of millions of viewers."
The BBC Radio 1 DJ has called for better understanding of the condition and for more to be done to promote early diagnosis.
She said: "Ultimately, I want people to know that dyslexia isn’t something that defeats you. The key is being diagnosed as early as possible.
"It breaks my heart that there could be people out there struggling through life unnecessarily because they’ve not been diagnosed, and are still feeling stupid the way I did.
"I went from being bottom of the class in primary school to getting 3 As at A-level. The better we all understand dyslexia, the more we can help people who have it to reach their full potential."
Mollie King opens up on dyslexia struggle
