Julie Andrews was left with permanent damage to her voice in 1997 (Image: Getty)
Julie Andrews fell into depression after botched throat surgery in 1997 left her with scarred vocal cords and a diminished voice.
The Oscar-winning actress and musical theatre icon, 89, noticed something was wrong with her voice during a Broadway show in 1997.
Not long after, she underwent a surgical procedure at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York to remove what she believed to be “non-cancerous nodules” from her throat.
Unfortunately, the operation resulted in lasting damage that rendered her voice permanently impaired.
“Singing has been a cherished gift, and my inability to sing has been a devastating blow,” she said in 1999.
Julie, who won an Academy Award for her role in 1964’s Mary Poppins, opened up about the devastating impact the surgery had on her life with AARP The Magazine.
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Andrews filed a malpractice lawsuit against two doctors (Image: Getty)
“When I woke up from an operation to remove a cyst on my vocal cord, my singing voice was gone,” she told the publication for their October/November 2019 issue.
“I went into a depression. It felt like I’d lost my identity,” she revealed.
In 1999, Andrews filed a malpractice lawsuit against two doctors at the New York City hospital. Settled in September 2000, she received an undisclosed settlement worth millions of dollars.
After the surgery, the mum-of-three attempted to reclaim her voice with vocal exercises. This, combined with multiple surgeries, meant she was able to improve the quality of her speaking voice.
The Princess Diaries star hired a different doctor named Steven Zeitels, who was able to remove some scar tissue and stretch some of her remaining vocal tissue to enhance flexibility.
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Andrews admitted she fell into depression after the surgery (Image: Getty)
However, he discovered that so much of her vocal cord tissue was gone that repairing her singing voice would be impossible.
“It’s nothing that is going to grow back,” Andrews said in 2015.
With her vocal range left at about an octave, it meant she could sing low notes, however, middle notes were unreachable and high notes were uncertain.
Over time, Andrews came to terms with what happened.
“I thought my voice was my stock-in-trade, my talent, my soul,” she told The Reporter in 2015. “And I had to finally come to the conclusion that it wasn’t only that that I was made of.”