Kimberly Williams-Paisley Couldn’t Speak for Two Years Due to Vocal Cord Paralysis and Lost Acting Jobs: ‘I Felt Invisible’ and ‘Trapped in My Own Body’
“Father of the Bride” and “According to Jim” actor Kimberly Williams-Paisley revealed to People magazine that she could not speak for two years due to a partial paralysis of her left vocal cord, which forced her to to turn down acting roles. Williams-Paisley had surgery in August to correct the health issue after two years of feeling “invisible.” The vocal cord paralysis left her unable to speak louder than a whisper and “I felt trapped in my own body.”
“There were days when I grieved and sobbed,” Williams-Paisley said about the two years she spent in near silence. “I wondered, ‘Who am I without my voice?'”
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Williams-Paisley first noticed issues with her voice in November 2022 while attending an annual fundraiser for Alzheimer’s. She was supposed to welcome guests to the event but “I put the mic to my mouth, and nothing came out. It was terrifying.”
The actor originally thought maybe she just needed a warm tea to clear her throat, but her voice remained paralyzed for weeks and she could only muster up the vocal strength to whisper.
“I went to self-blame —‘I’m not breathing properly, I’m not relying on my vocal training,’” Williams-Paisley told People. “I was beating myself up.”
Williams-Paisley tried a handful of remedies to bring her voice back, from acupuncture to hiring a vocal coach, but nothing worked. She remembered being mortified while walking a red carpet in 2023 for her Netflix movie “Dog Gone” because the event was too loud for her to do any interviews as her voice was not strong enough to speak up.
“I sounded weak, and it’s not how I felt,” she said. “I went into the bathroom and cried, and a couple of friends held my hand.”
The vocal cord paralysis ended up impacting Williams-Paisley’s everyday life. As she explained: “Days when I didn’t want to do anything. Days when I was extra tired. Cycling anxiety thoughts in the middle of the night. I wouldn’t say I had clinical depression, but I was sad.”
“There was so much shame involved,” she added. “I felt invisible.”
Williams-Paisley ultimately turned to surgery, which brought her vocal cords back, but she said of the two-year ordeal: “I had to fight to be heard. Now, no matter what my physical voice is, my voice underneath is stronger. I feel more confident. I know myself better.”
With her voice now regaining its strength, Williams-Paisley is gearing up to return to television as the host of the fourth season of the Fox reality dating series “Farmer Needs a Wife.” She is replacing country singer Jennifer Nettles as the show’s host.
Head over to People’s website to read more about Williams-Paisley’s health journey
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