During a town hall meeting with electors on Wednesday night, Democratic presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. explained the origin of his signature raspy voice.
Kennedy told the Chicago NewsNation town hall audience that he suffers from spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological condition.
To open the evening, host Elizabeth Vargas stated, “Your voice is raspy. Why don’t you explain to our audience why?”
Kennedy was candid about his vocal cord degeneration, which he claimed began in the mid-1990s.
“I had a very, very strong voice until I was 46 years old,” he said. “It was unusually strong. Even at that time, I was making a lot of my income doing public speaking and I could speak to large halls without any amplification.”
However, the candidate stated that his voice swiftly deteriorated.
“In 1996, when I was 42 years old, I got struck with a disease — a neurological disease, an injury — called spasmodic dysphonia. And it makes my voice tremble,” the now-69-year-old said.
Kennedy said at first “I didn’t know what was wrong.”
People who had heard him speak sent him letters informing him that he suffered from spasmodic dysphonia.
A consultation with a renowned physician who specialized in treating the condition validated the diagnosis.
“I think it makes it [problematic] for people to listen to me. I cannot listen to myself on TV. I will never listen to this broadcast,” Kennedy said.
He added, “So I feel sorry for you guys having to listen to me.”
.@RobertKennedyJr. explains how he came to have a raspy voice, noting a neurological disease in his 40s.
Watch live: https://t.co/ulvWgXBU0l #RFKTownHall pic.twitter.com/NoIguoJhR3
— NewsNation (@NewsNation) June 29, 2023
Kennedy further clarified that the condition had worsened until he underwent surgery in Japan recently.
More on this story via The Western Journal:
“It made my voice much better, which you probably won’t believe. But it was much worse than this before,” Kennedy told NewsNation’s audience. CONTINUE READING…
