Reality Star Nick Viall Recalls Being Diagnosed With Dyslexia in His 30s: ‘I Felt a Little Seen’

The former ‘Bachelor’ star discussed being diagnosed with dyslexia as an adult with actress Bella Thorne.

Nick Viall attends the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on June 5, 2022. Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for MTV

Television personality Nick Viall, who starred in Season 21 of the ABC dating show “The Bachelor,” could never understand why reading aloud was so challenging for him until he was diagnosed with dyslexia as an adult.

“When I was a kid, you didn’t know about dyslexia or talk about dyslexia,” Viall said during a Feb. 26 episode of his podcast, “The Viall Files,“ co-hosted by his wife, Natalie Joy Viall. ”And honestly, if you found out you were dyslexic, you weren’t telling people.

“That was something you definitely would have gotten picked on [for]. And it wasn’t until I was an adult that I was like, ‘Why can I not read out loud very well?’ And I could never figure it out.”

The 44-year-old reality star—who was a contestant on Seasons 10 and 11 of “The Bachelorette” before being named “The Bachelor” in 2017—said he was ultimately diagnosed with the neurodevelopmental disorder in his 30s.

“It didn’t really change anything,” Viall told the podcast’s special guest, actress Bella Thorne, who is also dyslexic.

“I felt a little seen, not to sound corny,” he said. “I don’t like to lean into my weaknesses, so to speak, but I think it’s just nice to know what they are. So at least I just ... don’t have to make excuses for anything; I’m just dyslexic now.”

The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity reports that the learning disability that impairs a person’s ability to speak, read, and spell affects approximately 20 percent of the population.

While the exact cause remains unknown, the International Dyslexia Association notes that the condition has been linked to a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

“Now I know why I have no idea how many vowels are in a word or why I have a hard time reading a teleprompter and everyone else makes it look so easy and it looks so hard for me,” Viall said.

Overcoming Dyslexia

Viall, who has appeared in episodes of “General Hospital” and “Teachers,” among other television shows, said people began telling him about all of the “very talented, very successful people” who are dyslexic after he learned of his diagnosis.

The Yale Center notes that “many gifted people at the top of their fields are dyslexic,” adding that people with dyslexia tend to be “very fast and creative thinkers” despite being slow readers.

The actor and his wife, who have a 1-year-old daughter, recalled discovering a children’s book that delved into this very topic.

“The first book that Nick bought our daughter, River, was ‘The Dyslexic ABCs,’” Joy Viall said.

“Dyslexic Legends Alphabet,” written and illustrated by Beck Feiner, aims to help children diagnosed with dyslexia overcome their struggles in school.

“From Albert Einstein to Agatha Christie, Pablo Picasso to JFK, Dyslexic Legends Alphabet presents an eye-opening and motivational A to Z of legends with dyslexia who have made their inspirational mark on our world,” an official synopsis reads.

Actress Bella Thorne arrives at the 27th annual Kids' Choice Awards at the Galen Center on March 29, 2014, in Los Angeles. Dan Steinberg/Invision/AP

Elsewhere in the podcast, Thorne, who was diagnosed with dyslexia in the first grade, said she still faces challenges due to her condition.

“I still have like a huge fear of reading out loud and in front of people,” said the 27-year-old actress, noting that her dyslexia has especially affected her work as an author.

Thorne has written several books, including “Autumn Falls” (2014) and “The Life of a Wannabe Mogul: Mental Disarray” (2019).

“There [are] a lot of references to dyslexia,” she said. “I spell things wrong, and then I rewrite it on the typewriter and rewrite it again and keep spelling it wrong.”

In her breakout role in 2010, Garner played CeCe Jones in the Disney Channel sitcom “Shake It Up.” The actress credited the network for making her character dyslexic on the show.

“Disney was so smart and sweet. They were the first people to make me feel good about my dyslexia,” Thorne told People magazine in December 2024.

“I was embarrassed about reading because I was so bad at it,” she said. “When I was on ‘Shake It Up,’ I had to do weekly table reads with so much dialogue, and the scripts sometimes changed the night before. I had to read in front of everybody.”

Thorne said the entire experience was nerve-wracking.

“I’d be sweating, and when I messed up, I’d hear people laugh, thinking I was being silly, but I wasn’t,” she said.

“One of the writers figured out I was dyslexic, and Disney made an episode about it. They made CeCe dyslexic. That was such a sweet moment.”