Mollie King's battle with dyslexia made lyric reading difficult

16 March 2018

Mollie King's dyslexia meant she struggled when recording The Saturdays' hit songs.

Mollie King

The 30-year-old singer has opened up about her battle with common learning difficulty - which can cause problems with reading, writing and spelling - and how it has impacted her life as an adult, as she struggled to read the lyrics in time when recording songs with her former bandmates.

Speaking on UK TV show 'This Morning' on Friday (16.03.18), she said: "I think the way it impacted me as an adult was definitely in the studio when I was recording a song.

"When I was in The Saturdays we would be given the lyrics and I wouldn't actually be able to read the lyrics quick enough to be able to sing them at that pace.

"So I'd have to learn a whole song off by heart so I didnt need to rely on actually reading the lyrics as I was recording the words."

The former 'Strictly Come Dancing' contestant - who was joined by Frankie Bridge, Rochelle Humes and Vanessa White in the 'All Fired Up' group - was relieved when she was finally diagnosed, as she constantly "felt stupid" for making excuses to leave the classroom when it was her turn to read out loud at school.

She explained: "I was diagnosed with dyslexia when I was 10 because I found reading really hard I felt like the words were moving on the page and I spoke to my mum about it.

"I remember when we used to read around the class, when one of us would read and I would just absolutely dread it, I used to get really bad anxiety and try and think of an excuse to leave the classroom when I knew it was about to be my turn.

"I do remember feeling a sense of relief [after being diagnosed] because I felt like I was just stupid and I read the words in the wrong order and I felt so scared about reading out loud and I couldn't understand why, so when someone said there's a reason and there are ways in which we can help, that was a huge relief for me."

And she credits her mum for being supportive of her during her struggles and helping her move past the difficult hurdles.

She said: "My mum was definitely such a huge support for me and I remember she used to read for me with my homework because it was the reading which just took so long."