Jennifer Aniston shares her “life-changing” dyslexia diagnosis

Jennifer Aniston has had many career highlights since her breakout role as Rachel on Friends. She’s won a Primetime Emmy, a Golden Globe, and two Screen Actors Guild awards. But the event that she says changed her life was being diagnosed with dyslexia, a lifelong learning disorder in reading.

In the United States, between 5 and 17.5 percent of people have dyslexia.opens in a new tab Aniston wasn’t diagnosed until she was in her 20s.

She shared her experience in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter.opens in a new tab

“The only reason I knew [that I had it] was because I went to get a prescription for glasses ... I had to read a paragraph, and they gave me a quiz, gave me 10 questions based on what I’d just read, and I think I got three right.”

Aniston describes the discovery as life-changing. When she was young, she wasn’t a good student because of issues related to her undiagnosed dyslexia. She just thought she “wasn’t smart” and “couldn’t retain anything.”

But with the diagnosis came a new knowledge of herself. “I felt like all of my childhood trauma-dies, tragedies, dramas were explained,” says Aniston.

Her struggles in school pushed her to develop an “innate humor.” She channeled that humor into making friends at school and eventually into acting.

For her fans, Aniston’s dyslexia may just be more confirmation that she’s a “real person with a beating heart,” as the Hollywood Reporter notes. More and more celebrities like Aniston are sharing their stories. Read inspiring quotes from celebrities who are speaking up about learning and thinking differences.

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