Emily Blunt Opens Up About What Brings Her Confidence Now After Growing Up with a Stutter

Emily Blunt has been vocal about struggling with a stutter as a child. Now, at 43, she is sharing what brings her confidence.

“Oh my goodness. Speaking fluently brings me confidence,” Blunt tells PEOPLE on the red carpet at the American Institute for Stuttering’s 20th Anniversary Gala in New York City on Wednesday, Sept. 16. The Devil Wears Prada star hosted the N.Y.C.-based non-profit’s annual event, three months after she began appearing in a PSA created by the organization titled “Just Listen.”

“I think I just get a lot of security from my family and my family life,” she adds. Blunt shares daughters Hazel, 12, and Violet, 10, with her husband John Krasinski. “I think peace has become my new soulmate. That’s my mantra for my 40s.”

Blunt has been involved with the American Institute for Stuttering (AIS) for years. On Sept. 16, the organization celebrated its founder and managing partner Steven Tananbaum, and staff members at the event shared personal anecdotes that highlighted “the transformative power of AIS’s therapy,” per a description for the event.

In 2020, Blunt told PEOPLE that she began noticing her stutter around age 6 or 7. She noted that several members of her family, including her grandfather, uncle and a cousin, also have stutters

“It feels like you’ve got this imposter living in your body,” she said at the time. During that interview, Blunt also noted that when she was 12, a teacher realized that she was able to drop her stutter when she would do impressions, which led to her first forays into acting.

“I wouldn’t say that’s why I’ve ventured into acting, but it was just a bit shocking the first time I was able to speak, you know, doing a silly voice or an accent pretending to be someone else,” she told PEOPLE at AIS’ annual event in 2022. “People don’t talk about [it] enough if it hasn’t got enough exposure, and millions of people around the world struggle with it.”

“It’s biological and it’s often hereditary and it’s not your fault,” she added at the time. “And I think it’s very often a disability that people bully and make fun of. So I think, to raise awareness about what it’s really about, and that there’s this soft place for you to land in this amazing organization. It’s a big deal for me to be here.”

Blunt most recently appeared on the big screen in this summer’s The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Disclosure Day. She and Krasinski, 46, are teaming up once more for A Quiet Place Part III, set for release in July 2027.