Kimberly Williams-Paisley opened up about a “terrifying” health crisis.
The “Father of the Bride” actress, 53, revealed in a new interview with People that in the fall of 2022 her voice disappeared — and she couldn’t speak louder than a whisper for nearly two years.
“I felt trapped in my own body. There was so much shame involved. I felt invisible,” she said.
Williams-Paisley recalled that her voice issues started at an annual fundraiser for Alzheimer’s that she threw with her sister, Ashley Williams.
“I put the mic to my mouth, and nothing came out,” she explained. “It was terrifying.”
A few months later, Williams-Paisley was at the premiere of her movie “Dog Gone” in January 2023 and realized the event was too loud for her to do interviews.
“I sounded weak, and it’s not how I felt,” she said. “I went into the bathroom and cried, and a couple of friends held my hand.”
Williams-Paisley detailed how much she struggled mentally with not being able to speak.
“Days when I didn’t want to do anything. Days when I was extra tired. Cycling anxiety thoughts in the middle of the night. I wouldn’t say I had clinical depression, but I was sad,” she shared.
The “According to Jim” star said she eventually went to the Vanderbilt Voice Center in early 2023 and was diagnosed with muscle tension dysphonia, meaning “the muscles in my neck were tensing up to help my vocal cords hit each other.”
Williams-Paisley spent the next year doing treatments like antidepressants, Invisalign braces, a vegan diet, hypnosis and seeing a psychic and astrologer, but her voice still didn’t return, so she isolated herself.
“I love dinner parties and being around people, but I didn’t want to go out,” she said. “I couldn’t be a part of the conversation.”
“There were days when I grieved and sobbed,” Williams-Paisley continued. “I wondered, ‘Who am I without my voice?’”
Earlier this year, Williams-Paisley returned to Vanderbilt and doctors saw that her left vocal cord wasn’t meeting the right, which caused her voice loss. “Once I got that diagnosis, my body could relax in a whole new way,” she said. “The shame and blame dissipated. It was largely a technical issue, not something I did wrong.”
The actress later underwent a three-hour surgery in August and her voice returned.
Today, Williams-Paisley’s voice is “much better.”
“I still can’t yell down the road,” she said. “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.”
Williams-Paisley’s husband, country singer Brad Paisley, told People how he supported his wife during her health struggles.
“I’d give her advice: ‘Do this vocal warm-up with me.’ I stepped in it so much!” he said.
Williams-Paisley also said that the couple’s sons Huck, 17, and Jasper, 15, “were great cheerleaders for me. To see them embracing me made me feel less alone.”
