Charismatic and popular Sky Sports personality Chris Kamara has revealed the heartbreaking truth about his battle with speech apraxia that made him "feel like a fraud".
On Monday, Kamara featured on a new episode of "The Diary Of A CEO" podcast, hosted by Steven Bartlett. The latter is a hugely successful entrepreneur and is one of the latest additions to the team of Dragons in Dragons' Den.
Kamara, who is an ex professional footballer, left Sky earlier this year after a huge 24 years with the broadcasting service. He became an icon in football punditry, and had a number of hilarious moments which brought joy to sports fans across the UK.
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On the podcast, Kamara revealed that he has been battling with a condition called speech apraxia.
The condition basically makes speaking very difficult. According to the NHS , a person with speech apraxia knows what they would like to say, but they have difficulty getting their jaw, lips and tongue to move in the way required to form words. Acquired dyspraxia of speech can affect a person at any age, although it most typically occurs in adults. It is caused by damage to the parts of the brain that are involved in speaking, and involves the loss or impairment of existing speech abilities.
"It feels like someone has taken over my voice box" Kamara explained to Bartlett.
"The voice that used to come out would come out at 300 miles an hour, you’ve seen me on the results and Soccer Saturday, motormouth, talking and not even waiting for a breath, just keep going and going."
"Now when I hear myself or see myself on TV it’s someone else. It’s really strange."
'Kammy', as he is widely known, first announced the diagnosis back in March, before taking a break from broadcasting altogether. Eventually he declared that he would complete his last Soccer Saturday in April.
Soccer Saturday saw some of Kammy's funniest moments, and he is most well-known for this incredible interchange with presenter Jeff Stelling after missing a sending off.
Despite calling it quits with his role at Sky, Kammy has started a new podcast with presenter Ben Shephard, entitled 'Proper Football'.
He explained to Bartlett that he is well aware of his altered speech, and he feels like a fraud with his current output.
"Strange in terms of, I feel a fraud now in terms of broadcasting; I don’t bring to the table what I used to."
“I feel I’m doing these programmes and they’re not getting the best of me, but they’re tolerating me, that’s how it feels.”
You can watch the full interview with Kamara here .
Kammy is still on the broadcasting scene despite his Sky exit, and along with his football podcast, he presents Ninja Warrior UK along with Rochelle Humes and Ben Shephard.
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