Singer and actress Miley Cyrus has revealed that a rare voice disorder called Reinke’s edema is behind her famous raspy voice and also makes singing live very hard via Yahoo.
The 32-year-old pop star recently talked about the condition during an interview on Apple Music’s The Zane Lowe Show, CBS News reported.
She described Reinke’s edema as a type of “abuse of the vocal cords,” and stated she’s had it for a long time.
“Being 21 and staying up and drinking and smoking and partying after every show does not help. But also, in my case, it does not cause it. My voice always sounded like this, so it’s a part of my unique anatomy,” Cyrus explained.
“So I have this very large polyp on my vocal cord, which has given me a lot of the tone and the texture that has made me who I am.”
It has also made performing difficult.
“It’s extremely difficult to perform with because it’s like running a marathon with ankle weights on,” she said.
Even talking at the end of the day can be tiring, she added.
“I’ll call my mom, and she’ll go, ‘Oh you sound like you’re talking through a radio,’ and that’s how you know I’m really tired because it creates that like ultimate vocal fry.”
According to the Cleveland Clinic, Reinke’s edema is a condition that causes swelling in the vocal cords. It’s also known as vocal cord edema or polypoid corditis,
It’s most common in people who smoke for a long time, but it can also happen in people with acid reflux or those who use their voice a lot, CBS News said.
In some cases, the swelling forms growths that look like polyps on the vocal cords. However, Cyrus said she’s avoiding surgery for now. She’s “not willing to sever [the tissue] because the chance of waking up from a surgery and not sounding like myself is a probability.” CBS News reported.
