Lauren Sánchez got emotional while discussing how struggling with dyslexia made her feel “dumb” as a child.
The fiancée of Jeff Bezos was promoting her forthcoming children’s book, “The Fly Who Flew to Space,” when she teared up about her learning disorder on Tuesday’s episode of “Good Morning America.”
“This book is for my 8-year-old self who really felt dumb,” Sánchez, 54, told host Michael Strahan. “And I did, I sat in the back of the class, I was quiet and they pushed me along in public school.”
Sánchez remembered having dreams of becoming a journalist — only to doubt that she would ever make it in the industry because she was convinced she couldn’t write.
“It was horrible,” she admitted.
It wasn’t until one of her community college teachers intervened that she was able to regain her confidence.
“[The teacher] said, ‘Just write without thinking about spelling or punctuation,'” Sánchez said, prompting her to pause as she held back tears.
“Every time I talk about this, I get emotional,” she added.
Sánchez noted that she couldn’t remember the premise of the story but that her teacher read the prompt and told her, “You are not dumb, you just can’t spell.”
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The educator had Sánchez tested for dyslexia and from there she was able to get the help she needed to improve her writing skills.
“I went from a 2.0 [GPA] student who was barely making it to a 3.8, got into USC and became a journalist,” the news anchor said.
Sánchez is now passionate about spreading awareness about the reading disability and said that some proceeds from her book will go to the International Dyslexia Association, which helps diagnose children at a younger age.
“So they don’t have to go through what I went through, just thinking that [they are] not smart enough,” she said. “They can really help kids, that are struggling with dyslexia, helping diagnose them.”
Sánchez shared that her youngest son, Evan, was diagnosed with dyslexia in the second grade.
She shares Evan, 18, and daughter Ella, 16 with her ex-husband Patrick Whitesell and son Nikko, 23, with her ex-partner, NFL player Tony Gonzalez.
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