The promotion for A Quiet Place: Part II is really starting to kick in, with Emily gracing the cover of the latest issue of Marie Claire – including a gorgeous new shoot, captured by three very talented amateur photographers. In the accompnaying interview, she discusses her childhood struggle with her stutter in detail, it’s a great read, so be sure to take a look if you haven’t already. I’ll add further coverage from the issue as it becomes available. Enjoy!
MARIE CLAIRE – On a rainy afternoon last November, Emily Blunt came to our house in Brooklyn to talk to my 11-year-old son, Sammy, about something they have in common: stuttering. I’ve been a fan of hers since 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada (not to mention Edge of Tomorrow, Sicario, A Quiet Place, and Mary Poppins Returns), but I became an even bigger fan once I found out she was deeply involved in the American Institute for Stuttering (AIS), an organization that has played a large role in our family’s life. Sammy has attended the institute on and off since he was seven, and in 2016 he was asked to speak at its annual benefit in New York. The two other speakers that evening were then–vice president Joe Biden and Bruce Willis, and the whole night kicked off with a video from a very pregnant Emily, who has hosted the event since 2010. The evening changed all of our lives, especially Sammy’s, and I’ve been stalking Emily ever since to thank her for the work she has done for stutterers everywhere. This is how it came to pass that, three years later, she showed up at our door, took off her shoes in the foyer, ate our homemade banana bread, petted our dog, and sat down with Sammy. It turns out that in addition to stuttering, they share a love of pranks and a talent for mimicry. Once the digital recorder was shut off, they performed their current favorite imitations of people in their lives, leaving us all doubled over in laughter. I didn’t think I could be a bigger fan, but she proved me wrong. What follows is a shortened account of their afternoon, edited in a few parts only for clarity.
So, you’re from England. How do you like living in Brooklyn?
When I first met my husband, John [Krasinski], I was living in Los Angeles, and that was hard because it felt like the antithesis of what I had grown up in, a place with a sense of community and culture and real spontaneity and vibrancy. And I love walking cities. So moving to Brooklyn really felt like home to me. I think my soul was better suited to Brooklyn. I really love it.
I know you had a stutter when you were growing up, or maybe you still do?
Once a stutterer, I feel, always a stutterer.
