Since 2005, TV fans have come to know actress Kirsten Vangsness as her beloved Criminal Minds character Penelope Garcia. As one of the longest running stars on the show, she has gained a huge and loyal fanbase, and despite her prominent role on such a major series, it is truly surprising she is not in the headlines more! When the actress does do interviews, it is often about Criminal Minds, her co-stars and working on the series, but there is so much more to the star than just that role! Here are some things you might not have known about Kirsten Vangsness:
10. Speech Therapy
Now Vangsness is eloquent and quite verbose like Penelope Garcia, but it wasn’t always that way. As a child, Vangsness had a lisp and had to undergo three years of speech therapy while in elementary school to correct the lisp. In an interview with Inspirer, the actress revealed that, as well as having a lisp, she was very shy, and it made her a target for classmates. “I got bullied a lot and I basically stopped talking in the eighth grade,” she said of her difficult time in grade school.
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