"Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary, who is best known as "Mr. Wonderful" on the show, recently broke down in tears after recounting his struggles with dyslexia during his childhood years. The Canadian-born business tycoon shared that the condition has severely affected his confidence.
"Mr. Wonderful" Kevin O'Leary recently shared his struggles with dyslexia as a child during an interview with CNNMoney.
"I was dyslexic and very, very much so," O'Leary told the outlet. "It was very challenging for me. I couldn't read at an early age."
The "Shark Tank" star admitted that the condition has affected his performance in school, which in turn, has made him lose his confidence.
"I was really wondering if I was ever going to make it... those were very tough times. I was failing," he added.
O'Leary also shared that his family experienced a lot of panic when they noticed that the condition was getting the most out of him. It was then that his mother decided to place him in an "experimental class" headed by child psychologist Dr. Margie Golick and Dr. Sam Rabinovitch that they noticed significant changes in his life.
"Mr. Wonderful" also revealed that Dr. Golick and Dr. Rabinovitch's ways of dealing with and teaching children diagnosed with dyslexia made him realize that the condition does not limit one's potential; instead, it should be taken as a "super power."
NCBI states that dyslexia is a broad term for reading disability, which "occurs when an individual has significant difficulty with speed and accuracy of word decoding." About 5 to 10 percent of the population is diagnosed with the said condition.
O'Leary's statement regarding the disease being a "super power" has some truth behind it. The publication notes that many dyslexics are also found to excel in other areas such as sports, music or art. Interventions used for patients diagnosed with dyslexia include the use of computers and screen readers.
Watch Kevin O'Leary's interview with CNN Money here:
