Joe Biden writes essay about his speech impediment
(CBS) The story of the stuttering monarch chronicled in "The King's Speech" continues to inspire.
Its screenwriter, David Seidler, has said King George's struggle to overcome his speech impediment compelled Seidler to write the movie.
Now Vice President Joe Biden has opened up about his struggles with childhood stuttering as a result of seeing the film.
In an essay for People magazine, Biden writes, "I was in 7th grade at St. Helena's and I still remember the reading: 'Sir Walter Raleigh was a gentleman...' I remember reciting, "Sir Walter Raleigh was a gentle man." The nun said, "Master B-B-B-Biden! What's that word?"
He writes that he broke sentences into smaller pieces and pronounced "gentleman" as "gentle man" to avoid stuttering.
"[A] couple of nuns taught me to put a cadence to my speaking, and that's why I spent so much time reading poetry - Emerson and Yeats. But even in my small, boys' prep school, I got nailed in Latin class with the nickname Joe Impedimenta. You get so desperate, you're so embarrassed."
The essay appears in the Friday print edition of People magazine. Read the excerpt here.