Lauren Sanchez breaks down in tears as she recalls heartbreaking moment teacher helped her realize she wasn’t ‘dumb’ as she opens up about her dyslexia

Lauren Sanchez couldn’t hold back her tears as she recalled the moment a teacher helped her realize she wasn’t “dumb” after struggling with undiagnosed dyslexia for decades.

The 54-year-old businesswoman, who is engaged to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, made a moving appearance on Good Morning America on Tuesday to promote her new children’s book, The Fly Who Flew to Space.

The former TV star explained that she wrote the book to encourage children who are currently experiencing the same struggles that she once did. She also admitted that her son Evan Whitesell, 18, has also been diagnosed with the learning disability, which makes it difficult for him to read and write correctly.

Speaking to host Michael Strahan, Sanchez began by saying, “This book is for myself as an eight-year-old who felt really ‘dumb.’

‘And I did. I sat in the back of the class, I was quiet, and in public school they pushed me.

She also revealed that son Evan Whitesell, 18, has also been diagnosed with the learning disorder, which causes difficulty reading and writing correctly.

‘I really wanted to be a journalist, that was all I wanted. I thought: I can’t write, that’s terrible.’

The glamorous star was overcome with emotion as she recalled the moment she was able to pursue her dream job more effectively thanks to the help of a teacher who asked her to write for the school newspaper.

“I said, ‘I can’t really write,’” the brunette recalls.

‘[The teacher] said, “Just write, without thinking about spelling or punctuation.”

At that point, Sanchez had tears in her eyes and had to pause to get her emotions under control. She then continued, “Every time I talk about this, I get emotional.”

The former journalist added: ‘I don’t remember what the story was about. She literally looked at me after I turned it in and said something like, “You’re not stupid, you just can’t spell,” and she had me tested for dyslexia.

“This was a community college teacher who showed interest in me. I went from a 2.0-[GPA] ‘A student who barely managed to get a 3.8 was admitted to the USC and became a journalist.’

Sanchez then explained that a portion of the proceeds from the book would go to the International Dyslexia Association, an organization that works to diagnose children at a younger age.

The 54-year-old journalist – who is engaged to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos – made a moving appearance on Tuesday’s Good Morning America to promote her new children’s book

The former TV star explained that she was inspired to write the book to support children who are currently experiencing the same struggles she once had.

The passionate advocate explained, “So that they don’t have to go through what I went through, just thinking that [they are] not smart enough. They can really help children who struggle with dyslexia by helping to diagnose them.’

She then told us that her son had been diagnosed with the same disability at a young age and that she had given her permission to talk about it openly now that he is 18.

“My son said I could talk about it. He has dyslexia, diagnosed in second grade,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez has an eldest son, Nikko Gonzalez (23), with former NFL player Tony Gonzalez, and a daughter, Evan (16), Ella (16) with his ex-husband Patrick Whitesell.

Sanchez previously said she dreamed of becoming a journalist from a young age, but because she suffered from undiagnosed dyslexia as a child, she began to believe she couldn’t do it.

The glamorous star was then overcome with emotion as she recalled the moment she was better able to pursue her dream job. Seen in high school

She therefore decided to become a flight attendant and at the age of 18, after graduating from high school, she moved to Los Angeles, where she applied for a job as a flight attendant with Southwest Airlines.

However, the then-teenager, who weighed just over 120 pounds, said The Wall Street Journal Last year, during her job interview, she was forced to stand on a scale, a standard procedure for flight attendants at the time, and ultimately didn’t get the job because she was told she was too big.

Lauren, not knowing where to go, decided with a broken heart to go back to school. She enrolled at El Camino College in Torrance, California.

There she rediscovered her love for journalism after her teacher encouraged her to take a dyslexia test, eventually realizing she had a learning disability.

In 1992, Sanchez transferred to the University of Southern California, where she studied for two years while working as an assistant at the Los Angeles-based news company KCOP-TV.

In 1994, she dropped out of school to pursue her career as a reporter full-time after being offered a job at KTVK in Phoenix, Arizona.

In the years that followed, she moved around quite a bit, working briefly for Extra and then moving to Fox Sports Net.

Sanchez then hosted Good Day LA for six years before founding her own aerial film and production company, Black Ops Aviation.

She also hosted the first season of So You Think You Can Dance and has contributed to Larry King Live, The Joy Behar Show and Showbiz Tonight over the years.