Mollie King wants to young people overcome their dyslexia.
The Saturdays singer struggles with the learning disability – which involves difficulty reading – and has said the condition sometimes impacts her work as a DJ on UK radio station BBC Radio 1, because she finds it difficult to read out messages live on air.
She said: "I do find reading really hard because I’m dyslexic.
"So if I’m reading out a text on air, I might slip up and read a word slightly wrong, then that does sit with me for a bit.
"But it’s all about brushing it off and just moving on, especially with the show being live. You can’t have it play on your mind throughout the rest of the show.
"Doing things live has made me better at just brushing things off and ploughing on, because I think the listeners don’t mind hearing a mistake every now and then – it proves I’m human."
And Mollie, 32, wants to use her own experiences – which has seen her achieve success as a member of The Saturdays, as well as working as a stand-in presenter on ‘This Morning’ – to prove to other dyslexia sufferers they can still achieve their dreams despite their condition.
Speaking to The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column, she added: "I really do hope that people out there – especially, you know, young kids – can think ‘OK, she’s dyslexic and is reading a card, but it doesn’t stop you from doing the thing that you really want to do’.
"If you are really passionate about something, then you shouldn’t let anything like that get in the way."
The ‘Ego’ hitmaker was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was 10, and has previously spoken about the importance of early diagnosis.
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.
"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.
"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 wants to inspire young people with dyslexia
