By Gavin Boyle
Actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley explained how a condition that left her vocal chords paralyzed and inhibited her ability to speak brought out a new strength as she overcame this life-changing disorder.
“I have grown stronger in so many ways,” Williams-Paisley told Fox News Digital. “I think a lot of times when we face something like this, it helps lift us up in other areas of our lives. And so I worked on, ‘What other ways can I use my voice?’ And I started writing, and I journaled a lot and I got stronger, and I started lifting weights and I started meditating. So there are all these silver linings that I’m really grateful for.”
Williams-Paisley first lost her voice in November 2022. While attending an Alzheimer’s fundraising event, she realized her voice was not working just before she was supposed to go on stage and speak to the other attendees.
“I put the mic to my mouth, and nothing came out. It was terrifying,” she told PEOPLE last December. “I thought, ‘I need hot tea and vocal rest…’ I went to self-blame — ‘I’m not breathing properly, I’m not relying on my vocal training.’ I was beating myself up.”
Believing it to be an issue that would resolve itself through rest, Williams-Paisley did not begin to seek help for her lack of voice until it had been gone for months. She turned to a variety of fixes to help her voice return including antidepressants, Invisalign braces, a vegan diet, hypnosis and more.
However, none of these would-be solutions helped. Eventually she would be diagnosed with a vocal disorder that amounted to one of her vocal chords being paralyzed, meaning the functioning one could not fill the gap and cause sound to come out. Roughly two years after she lost her voice, Williams-Paisley underwent a surgery that gave her her voice back.
“Modern medicine is miraculous…” she wrote on an Instagram post after the successful surgery. “In the last two years, I’ve found power in using my voice in new ways. I’ve healed old emotional wounds. I’ve learned the strength and beauty of silence. I’ve become a serious meditator. I’m deadlifting over a hundred pounds. I’m taking better care of my body. I’m managing stress. I’m dissolving shame. I’m feeling more whole, empowered and joyful.”
“As I learned from a recent @katebowlerpodcast, if you’re going through hell, don’t come out empty-handed,” Williams-Paisley added. “Was losing my voice worth it? Mm, not exactly. Was it worthless? Not for a second.”
Related: Kimberly Williams-Paisley Opens Up About Condition That Left Her Silent for Years
Williams-Paisley’s story is an inspiration for anyone going through a hard time, revealing that even in the most trying of situations, there are lessons to be learned that can serve us for the rest of our lives.
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