GMB: Ed Balls opens up on dealing with his stammer
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Ed Balls talked about being in a short film about having a stammer on Good Morning Britain as co-star Susanna Reid asked him about his diagnosis and being mocked throughout his career. Ed detailed how he had gone through therapy to manage the condition and confessed on the ITV show he didn’t know MPs were allowed to undergo therapy.
Ed has talked openly about having a stammer before, and Tuesday saw Susanna praising her co-host over his experience.
“I don’t mean to take the words out of your mouth, but I just wonder whether you might not talk about it in this way, but I’m so impressed,” she stated.
Susanna continued: “You were diagnosed with a stammer when you were a minister.
“Which meant that you had dealt with the challenges of having a stammer while you were a child, while you were a young man, all the way into politics.
“And I don’t think it would be an understatement to say there were times when you were a politician when you were pilloried for the way that you spoke.
“It was incredibly unfair, it was very aggressive. And you then went through – I don’t know how you describe it? Therapy or treatment?”
“Therapy is the right word,” Ed clarified. “I didn’t think that you could have therapy if you’re a politician, and certainly not admit to it.
“But I did when I was a cabinet minister. And actually, all the advice was you have to go and talk about it publicly because that is the thing that will make the difference and that is true, but I don’t think I believed that.”
Ed went on to highlight the significance of his presenting career.
He admitted: “If you said to me while I was in cabinet that I would sit next to you and read the autocue and do all the things we do…
“I don’t think I’d have believed it then and actually, what you find in life is if you go through it and embrace things and also are open about the challenges you face you can do amazing things.
“The film is up for an award next week – it’s called Me and My Stammer and the film star is not me, the main star is a lad with a stammer called Elliot.”
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Later, fellow Good Morning Britain star Ranvir Singh detailed how she had talked to Ed in the past about his stammer when her son was going through a similar thing.
Susanna asked about her experience with her family and how Ed had helped her.
Ranvir recalled how Ed had given her one piece of advice which really helped her son.
He had detailed the importance of not finishing sentences for people with a stammer and allowing them to take their time.
“He’s passed it now,” Ranvir explained. “But I took your advice that day and I remember sitting in the car thinking ‘there’s no rush just let him’.
“And it took that directly from your advice, so I really appreciated it that day, thank you so much, it’s made a massive difference.”
Ed worked as a Labour MP from 2005 to 2015. In 2010, the British Stammering Association announced he had become a patron of the organisation.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV.
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