Explaining Stuttering

Stuttering and Your Child

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Stuttering and Your Child

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CELEBRITY FOCUS

John Melendez

He is a talented musician, actor, and comedian. Listen to a podcast.

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.

Bill Withers

While Bill Withers has long been on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter, many people probably didn't realize he stuttered. He passed away on March 30, 2020.

Born in 1938 in Slab Fork, W.V., Withers was the youngest of six children. When his father died when Withers was small, he was raised by his mother and grandmother, both of whom worked as domestics.

John Stossel

John Stossel is one of the most recognized and articulate reporters today. However, he once considered giving up his broadcasting career because of his stuttering.

"Fear of stuttering can easily become worse than the stuttering itself," observed Stossel. "The idea that I'm on television and making speeches is still a shock to me sometimes."

Marilyn Monroe

Born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926, Marilyn Monroe, according to Wikipedia, is known for playing comic "blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s. She was a top-billed actress for a decade, and her films grossed $200 million (equivalent to $2 billion in 2025) by her death in 1962.