“For as long as she can remember, speaking has been both a desire and a struggle.” – Diana Morgården Guillemot.

“I started stuttering when I was around three,” says Diana Morgården Guillemot. “I don’t really remember what it was like not to.”

When we speak, she describes an upbringing that, on the surface, seemed stable – growing up with her family in Södermalm, Stockholm, surrounded by friends.

But beneath that, something else was taking shape: a growing frustration rooted in the gap between who she felt she was and who she was able to be.

“I’ve always been a very social person. I love being in the center, talking, being seen and heard,” she says. “But the stutter got in the way. That’s been the main conflict in my life.”

Living in the shadow of silence

As a teenager, that conflict turned into anger. Diana describes herself as verbally aggressive, often lashing out at those around her.

“I didn’t understand it then,” she says. “But now I see it was frustration. I couldn’t express myself the way I wanted.”

At the same time, she developed a strategy to hide her struggle. She became the one who laughed, who kept the mood light – someone who made sure others didn’t notice what was going on underneath.

“My friends never thought I was having a hard time,” she says. “But inside, I was fighting constantly.”

Part of that struggle was reinforced by the silence of people around her. Despite meeting speech therapists and teachers, no one seemed to address stuttering in a meaningful way – not even professionals.

“No one talked about it – not my parents, not my teachers. Even the speech therapists didn’t really explain it,” Diana says. “So I started to think it must be something ugly – something you should hide.”

By the time she was 18, the pressure had built to a breaking point.

During a night out in Gamla Stan, the old town of Stockholm, after her mother’s 50th birthday celebration, Diana found herself overwhelmed.

“I felt completely lost,” she says.

She walked down to Skeppsbron bridge and jumped into the cold October water.

“It wasn’t because I wanted to die,” she says. “I wanted to be seen, understood.”

She was taken to hospital with hypothermia, having thoroughly scared her parents. But even then, the deeper issue remained unspoken.

Looking back, Diana describes those years as marked by emotional silence – a lack of tools for talking about feelings, and a sense that her struggle was something to suppress rather than face and understand.

“Something has to change”

It still took her several years to change course. In her mid-twenties, during what might seem like an ordinary situation – a phone call – something shifted.

Diana was trying to apply for a job, but couldn’t get through the conversation.

“That’s when I realized – this isn’t sustainable,” she says. “Something has to change.”

For the first time, she reached out on her own to a speech therapist.

“She understood immediately how difficult it was for me just to make that call,” Diana says. “And for the first time, someone actually asked how I felt about it – and listened.”

Through that contact, she was introduced to the Stockholm Stuttering Association and eventually the McGuire Programme, which focuses on both the physical and psychological aspects of stuttering.

In 2018, she attended her first course in Oslo.

“I was terrified,” she says. “But it was the first time I really did something for myself.”

It became a turning point.

“To meet other people who understood – to feel that sense of community – it changed everything,” she says. “It felt like a second family.”

Stepping into the spotlight

The following year, Diana took a step she had once thought impossible: speaking publicly about her stutter on national television.

Appearing on the morning news show Nyhetsmorgon in 2019, was an experience that she describes as “coming out”.

“It was something I had hidden my whole life,” she says. “And suddenly I was talking about it openly.”

The appearance marked the beginning of a new chapter. Encouraged by the positive responses she received, and by the inner shift she felt, Diana began documenting her experiences on social media.

Rather than hiding the difficult moments, she began using online platforms to practise speaking openly about stuttering and to confront situations she had once feared.

“I’ve always wanted to do something like this,” she says. “I just didn’t think it would be possible for me.”

Her content is deliberately unfiltered. She films herself in everyday situations – ordering food, asking questions, speaking to strangers – moments that can be particularly challenging for someone who stutters.

“It’s tough, because I know I might block,” she says. “But at the same time, it helps me practise. I’m truly confronting my fears, openly.”

She shares fun moments and hard-won victories – but also the truly difficult times: days when speaking feels overwhelming, when frustration takes over, when emotions surface.

“The hardest thing to show is when I have strong blocks – when my whole face tenses and I get stuck,” she says. “But that’s also the most important.”

Recognition beyond words

Diana’s openness has reached people beyond the stuttering community. Many who have no personal experience of stuttering recognise something in her stories – the difficulty of communicating, the fear of being judged, or the challenge of showing vulnerability.

“I think it’s about recognition,” she says. “People see themselves in it – even if it’s not exactly the same.”

It reflects what she describes as a paradox: the fear of exposing vulnerability often makes communication harder, while openness can ease it.

“The solution is honesty,” she says.

A new path forward

Today, Diana sees herself as someone who wants to challenge stigma and show the reality behind the condition. And it has given her life more purpose.

And while the journey is ongoing, one thing has fundamentally changed: she is no longer fighting her battles alone. She is no longer fighting silently.

“The McGuire Programme saved my life,” she says. “It was the beginning of my new life.”

For Diana, the programme was more than a course. It gave her a community of people who understood her experience, helped her confront the physical and psychological aspects of stuttering, and gave her the confidence to stop hiding.

Now, instead of hiding her voice, Diana is using it – openly, publicly, and on her own terms.