Michael Kidd-Gilchrist

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, now a small forward for the Charlotte Hornets, was considered one of the best basketball players in the country while in high school in New Jersey. In 2012, he was drafted second overall by the Charlotte Bobcats. That same year, he achieved his first career double-double, scoring 25 points and 12 rebounds and making him one of only five players under age 20 to accomplish that mark.

While in first grade, Michael was diagnosed with cognitive learning disabilities, and in second grade he began to see a speech therapist for the stutter he developed as a toddler. Because of his stutter, he seemed shy as a child, but had to face it head on once he became one of the country’s top high school basketball players. “I spoke a lot around my friends and family, stuff like that," he said. "But other than that, I wouldn’t talk to anybody really."

Over the course of 11 years, Kidd-Gilchrist saw three speech therapists. His classmates would make fun of him, and people would ask about his stutter, so he began to avoid situations where he had to speak publicly or be interviewed by the press. “I didn’t want to talk to anybody, so I would just run from it,” he said.

On the court, Kidd-Gilchrist struggled early on with his shot, so the Charlotte Hornets hired a full-time shooting consultant to help him perfect his form. After months of continuous practice and training, he improved significantly. Kidd-Gilchrist brings this same off-the-court work ethic to working on his stutter. While attending the University of Kentucky, he met a speech pathologist from the College of Health and Sciences. With her counseling, Kidd-Gilchrist was able to develop certain techniques to help him through his interviews and press conferences.

Now, he has moved past his earlier struggles with stuttering and is confident in his abilities. “At first, I was afraid of talking, but now it’s just being, like, “This is me. This is who I am.”

“I can’t hide it all my life, so if you don’t like it, if you don’t respect it, that’s your problem. So I’m confident in my own skin and it shows now, and on the court.”

Updated Dec. 1, 2016

Hide on More News:

Hide

CELEBRITY FOCUS

Frank Wolf

This Virginian congressman has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1981. The longtime supporter of the Stuttering Foundation drew national attention to childhood stuttering in 2006 when he submitted an article about Tiger Woods from the SFA newsletter to the Congressional Record. The congressman is featured in the Stuttering Foundation's Famous People Who Stutter brochure.

Bob Love

Bob Love has dreamt about being a great public speaker since his early days in Bastrop Louisiana, even though, as a young man, he could barely put two words together, let alone speak a full sentence.

In spite of his severe stuttering disability, Bob Love, the son of a sharecropper, rose to become a Chicago Bulls NBA superstar, whose records were eventually surpassed by Michael Jordan. Throughout his entire athletic career, Bob Love kept his stuttering a secret from the fans who adored him, thinking he could do his “talking” on the basketball court.

James Earl Jones

Actor James Earl Jones, a Broadway, television and movie star, is well-known for his voice as Darth Vader in Star Wars and his book Voices and Silences. Jones has spoken some of the most memorable lines in the history of American film, but the man known for his voice was once afflicted with a severe stutter.

Ken Venturi

As much of the nation watches the U.S. Open Golf Championship, it is impossible not to think about our late friend Ken Venturi. Ken overcame many challenges to win the Open at Congressional in 1964 and go on to become the voice of golf for more than three decades.

However, Ken faced no bigger obstacle than stuttering. Ken Venturi was a champion to those who stutter, going out of his way to share his personal experience when consulted by a colleague, friend, or child who stutters.

Bruce Willis

While the world knows Bruce Willis as an A-list actor, few know that he struggled with stuttering throughout his first 20 years.

Walter Bruce Willis was born in 1955 in West Germany to his German mother, Marlene, and his American GI father, David Willis. The family settled in David’s hometown of Penns Grove, New Jersey in 1957, and the couple has three other children.