Perfectly Blunt

Hollywood headliner Emily Blunt sits down with writer Anne Fulenwider – and her 11-year-old son – to talk about how she found her voice and the surprising childhood trait they share

- ANNE FULENWIDER AND SAMMY BLATSTEIN

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 organisation 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 actor 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 favourite imitations of people in their lives, leaving us all doubled over in laughter.

Here is a shortened account of her afternoon at our house.

Sammy Blatstein: So, you’re from England. How do you like living in Brooklyn?