EXCLUSIVE: F-F-F-FAMOUS! We Reveal the Big-Names You Never Knew Stuttered… And Their Tongue-Twisting Torments to Stop Stammers
A litany of famous faces have battled speech impediments.
June 17 2025, Published 7:00 a.m. ET
If you ever stuttered or do now, take heart.
More than 80 million people worldwide are stutterers – that's one in every 100. Children are mainly affected by the speech fluency disorder – which disrupts speech with repetitions or prolonging sounds — and most grow out of it or are helped out of it by a teacher, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
They can then go on to stun the world with their gifts. The famous – and surprising – people here are encouraging examples and great inspirations for future generations of child stutterers.
A-List Battles
Nicole Kidman had childhood struggles with speech, saying people urged her to 'calm down and think about what you’re gonna say'.
Joe Biden
The 82-year-old former president says he would read poetry in front of a mirror for hours to overcome his stammer and improve his public speaking. He adds that he still stutters "occasionally, when I find myself really tired."
He has worked as a mentor with young folks who stutter and tells them that it's "critically important for them not to judge themselves by their speech – not let that define them."
Nicole Kidman
The Oscar-winning actress says she was very shy as a kid and struggled to speak.
Kidman, 57, says, "I just remember everyone always saying to me, 'Calm down, think about what you're gonna say.'"
Winston Churchill
The British statesman and prime minister was known for his stirring speeches during World War II.
But he had a well-documented stuttering problem during his early years.
As a young boy, he struggled to overcome it, later realizing it may have helped him.
He said: "My impediment is no hindrance. It may even be an asset; for the tone of its recalcitrance may carry with it a sternness that I might not otherwise possess."
Charlie Sheen
The 59-year-old actor said he stuttered as a child, but it had a good side for him – declaring: "Stuttering taught me how to listen, which we have all forgotten about."
Sam Neill
The 77-year-old Jurassic Park star says his childhood stammer made him "painfully shy" because, "When people said something to me, I was afraid I'd have to reply so I really didn't say much."
Churchill's 'Sterness'
Winston Churchill believed his stutter was 'no hindrance,' insisting it added 'sternness' to his voice during Britain's darkest hours.
Bruce Willis
The 70-year-old star was a stutterer until he reached college, where he was able to work with the speech therapy department.
His advice to young people is "to never let anyone make you feel like an outcast."
James Earl Jones
The actor, who passed away last September at age 93, earned three Tony Awards, two Emmys, a Grammy and a National Medal of the Arts, and is well-known as the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars, among countless other roles, and as the booming voice of This is CNN.
Hugh Grant
Growing up, the Notting Hill star, now 64, had a severe stuttering problem, and speaking was stressful.
He was a shy, quiet boy who discovered that when he performed, he could keep it to a minimum. But his stop-and-start speech did end up serving him well as an insecure romantic hero.
Emily Blunt found her way out of silence through acting, realizing stuttering was 'just part of who I was.'
Emily Blunt
The 42-year-old star of The Devil Wears Prada says acting saved her. She says stuttering "wasn't the whole part of me – it was just part of who I was."
Tiger Woods
The 49-year-old professional golfer stuttered as a kid but grew out of it.
As an adult, he reached out to a teenager who attempted suicide after struggling to fit in.
"I know what it's like to be different and not fit in, I also stuttered as a child and I would talk to my dog and he would sit there and listen until I fell asleep. I didn't let it stop me and I know you can do that too," he wrote the teen in a heartfelt letter.
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Ed Sheeran credits Eminem's music for helping him beat his stammer, saying he learned the album 'front to back' at age 9.
King George VI
The British monarch, who reigned during a tumultuous period in history, struggled with a severe stutter. His journey to overcome his speech impediment is dramatized in 2010's The King's Speech, starring Colin Firth. In the film, he seeks the help of an Australian speech therapist, Lionel Logue, played by Geoffrey Rush. Logue's unconventional and empathetic methods help the king regain his confidence and become an effective communicator during moments of great national importance.
Ed Sheeran
When the singer-songwriter was a boy, his stage fright was compounded by a stutter. "I was shy and a bit awkward; I could barely speak as a kid," the 34-year-old recalls. After trying all sorts of speech therapies, he came upon an unlikely solution: "My uncle bought me Eminem's first album – and I learned that front to back, at the age of 9. That did it."
