Kimberly Williams-Paisley Shares ‘Terrifying’ Medical Condition That Left Her Unable To Speak For TWO Years!

Kimberly Williams-Paisley has a whole new perspective on life after she was left unable to speak for TWO YEARS!

The actress opened up about her health predicament to People on Wednesday, revealing that she has been privately suffering from a “terrifying” and confusing health battle since November 2022. It was then the Father of the Bride star was hosting her annual Alzheimer’s fundraiser, Dance Party to End ALZ, in honor of her late mom, but she lost her voice during the event, she recalled:

“I put the mic to my mouth, and nothing came out. It was terrifying.”

She initially brushed off the incident, thinking she just needed “hot tea and vocal rest,” but when the issue got to work over the next few weeks, she sought out more help from a vocal coach, acupuncturist, and massage therapist. Unfortunately, nothing worked.

She candidly shared:

“I felt trapped in my own body.”

In January 2023, she attended the premiere of her film Dog Gone, but her voice was so faint, she couldn’t do interviews. She shared:

“I sounded weak, and it’s not how I felt. I went into the bathroom and cried, and a couple of friends held my hand.”

Aw. That must have been so scary! Not having a diagnosis for so long left the performer feeling “sad” and she struggled with “cycling anxiety thoughts” in the middle of the night, as well as an overall disinterest in life. For anyone, losing their voice would be a big deal, but it’s especially troublesome when you’re a performer who makes a living off of speaking! No wonder she was feeling down!

The good news is that things started to look up when she went to the Vanderbilt Voice Center in Nashville, where doctors diagnosed her with muscle tension dysphonia. Basically, “the muscles in [her] neck were tensing up to help [her] vocal cords hit each other.” Because her vocal cords were barely visible, her first task was getting her muscles to unlock. She threw everything at this, trying antidepressants, Invisalign braces, a vegan diet, hypnosis, a psychic, and an astrologer. Wow!

Just this past January, she finally saw improvement when her docs were able to see her vocal cords properly, helping them determine her left cord “wasn’t meeting the right.” This could’ve been the result of a virus, Kimberly continued:

“Once I got that diagnosis, my body could relax in a whole new way. The shame and blame dissipated. It was largely a technical issue, not something I did wrong.”

In August, the 10th Kingdom alum underwent a medialization laryngoplasty, a three-hour surgery in which doctors place “a mesh device into your voice box to move the paralyzed vocal cord closer to the working vocal cord,” per the Cleveland Clinic. And it worked! Kimberly expressed:

“I couldn’t believe it was true.”

So exciting!

These days, her voice is “much better” but not perfect, she detailed:

“I still can’t yell down the road. And at the end of a long day of talking, I’ll sound a little more raspy than I used to, but I think that’s sexy. And I’ve learned that when you talk quieter, people lean in, which is not bad either.”

Hah! Working with what she’s got! What a relief it must be to be able to talk again.

Kimberly also noted she sometimes uses a plastic swan that she holds close to her ear as if she’s listening to a “giant seashell” to amplify her voice and help her hear better. Brad Paisley‘s wife said: