Kimberly Williams Paisley Details Surgery To Get Her Voice Back

Kimberly Williams Paisley has begun to open up about the medical journey she underwent in the last couple of years. Kimberly Williams Paisley lost her voice for two entire years.

What Happened To Kimberly?

Previously Kimberly Williams Paisley has opened up about her journey to reclaim her voice. Kimberly lost her voice back in November of 2022. She lost it while hosting the American Alzheimer’s event. Originally the family including husband and country star, Brad Paisley, had believed that she had simply just “overdone it.” When Kimberly’s voice did not shortly return, concerns had begun to arise. Brad had tried to offer advice and encouragement but stated that he often “stepped in it a lot.”

Kimberly stated that her family including, Brad, two boys, and her sister, Ashley Williams, were her rocks throughout the situation.

The Diagnosis

After Kimberly’s voice didn’t return, she sought medical advice to explain the phenomenon that was her voice disappearing. After a long journey to diagnoses, the Father of the Bride actress visited Tennessee’s Vanderbilt Voice Center in January 2023. This center has treated many celebrities including Johnny Cash and Wynonna Judd. There she was finally diagnosed with muscle tension dysphonia. This meant that she had partial paralysis of her left vocal cord.

Muscle tension dysphonia is caused by excessive muscle tension in and around the voice box.

Kimberly Williams Paisley’s doctors started by putting a scope down her nose through to her throat to visualize her vocal cords. There they ran into some trouble. Her care team said that “the muscles in her neck were so tight the vocal cords were barely visible.” Before continuing down the surgical route her doctors tried to visualize her vocal cords one more time. They injected her left vocal cord with hyaluronic acid filler to see if it would help her ability to speak. After that failed her medical team agreed upon surgery.

The Surgical Journey

Kimberly Williams Paisley then underwent a three-hour throat surgery. The procedure was called a laryngoplasty. In this procedure they had to move the weaker vocal cord, her left, closer to the right. One of her surgeons said “We left her awake so we could hear how the voice changes as we manipulated the position of the vocal cord. We’re trying to get the natural voice back.”  Kimberly described the procedure as “bizarre” as she was fully awake during the whole thing. She did say they put up a covering so that she could not see anything.

Kimberly said that the way the procedure turned out was “beautifully symbolic. I feel like I’ve been waking up to myself. I had to be fully present to cross the finish line, and I was really ready for it.”

She will be back on television soon hosting Season 3 of Farmer Wants A Wife.