We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.
Former Strictly Come Dancing star AJ Pritchard, 25, and his younger brother, Love Island favourite Curtis Pritchard, 24, have candidly spoken out about their experiences living with dyslexia and how it has impacted their work and education. The pair, who have been recently been appointed ambassadors for the British Dyslexia Association, explained they have had to “work a bit harder” in their careers due to their struggles with reading, writing, and spelling.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, AJ and Curtis revealed they were put on the spot with a script read on their first day of rehearsals for pantomime productions in a new move into theatre last year.
AJ had just finished working on Strictly when he began Peter Pan rehearsals and warned Curtis about the script read a day before he got started in Dick Whittington.
When quizzed on if they have helped each other through any difficulties they have faced with their dyslexia, Curtis recalled: “Yeah, we both did pantomime last year.
“AJ did Peter Pan and I did Dick Whittington and AJ started a day before me and he didn’t know we had to do a script read.”
READ MORE… AJ Pritchard gets into heated exchange with brother Curtis on air
READ MORE
-
Kevin Clifton admits to backstage ‘tantrum’ on Strictly
“I’d just finished Strictly the day before,” AJ chimed.
Curtis continued: “So he literally went straight in, he started reading from the script and then he told me that night, ‘You’re going to end up doing a script read on the first day’.
“So I was like, ‘Oh gosh’ so then I got my script, read through the whole script and went in the day after, prepared and read it.
“I would have felt a bit nervous to read that script for the first time on my own in front of everyone, I’m not saying I wouldn’t have felt a little bit nervous.”
AJ then revealed he also felt nervous and anxious at the time, but explained that usually when people notice his struggles with reading it can “get worse”, but they always acknowledge he has put the “time and hard work in” to improve.
The professional dancer added: “The thing is, I had to read it out in front of the whole cast and do a script reading.
“I’m sweating more than I’ve ever sweated when I’m dancing and all I had to do was read a couple of sentences and that kind of nerves, that anxiety, that builds up within you.
“Once people see that you struggle a bit – sometimes it gets worse, sometimes it gets better, but the one thing that always does get better is when you come back the next day, people can see you’ve put the time and hard work in and you’ve improved and that’s what’s always rewarding.”
DON’T MISS:
Jack Whitehall addresses ‘big row’ with dad Michael Whitehall [COMMENT]
Julia Bradbury speaks out on horror amid lockdown breast cancer scare [HEALTH UPDATE]
Naga Munchetty’s husband had ‘meltdown’ and accused her of ‘lying’ [VIDEO]
AJ and Curtis found out they were dyslexic from a young age and are now looking forward to using their platforms to raise awareness of the learning disorder, especially while children are being home schooled during the coronavirus lockdown.
Opening up about when he was diagnosed, AJ said: “I think for me I was in kindergarten, so I was very young and my teacher acknowledged that I was very dyslexic when it came to reading and writing and processing that information.
“But the mathematics and numbers side and statistics, I absolutely loved all of that and really Curtis, we never wanted to do anything the same, so if I was dyslexic, Curtis couldn’t be dyslexic, he never did the same as me. So even though Curtis was dyslexic as a child, he was like, ‘No’.”
The Greatest Dancer star Curtis also explained he didn’t want to be “labelled a dyslexic” at the time.
He admitted: “Dyslexia is not something bad. When I was younger I did think it was, I didn’t want to be labelled a dyslexic.
READ MORE
- Alex Beresford GMB star breaks silence on secret split from wife
“I thought it was a massive problem almost and there was something wrong with me, but in reality I couldn’t have been more wrong because it’s moulded me into the shape that I am today, that charismatic, creative character that speaks with emotion and I want to thank dyslexia now I suppose.”
AJ went on to speak about his decision to leave Strictly this year to pursue a presenting career with Curtis and the “scary” prospect of the BBC show not going ahead because of coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
He said: “I think for me because I made the decision before all of this kind of happened, I had four fantastic years on Strictly and moving on from that.
“I’ve done that, Curtis has done Dancing With The Stars, he’s done Love Island and The Greatest Dancer, we wanted to move forward as presenters towards our own format of show and Saturday night TV and in hindsight, obviously with Strictly and the way that the world’s going at the moment, it is a bit scary that some of our biggest and favourite TV shows may not be going ahead in the same way that they have done in the past.
“But I think that show will definitely go ahead in some capacity, that’s for sure. The general public need entertaining and the entertainment industry will definitely bounce back.”
AJ and Curtis Pritchard are Ambassadors for the British Dyslexia Association (BDA). For more information on the BDA visit www.bdadyslexia.org.uk.
Source: Read Full Article