Former beauty queen, Michelle Myers (pictured), of Arizona, who went to sleep with a headache in 2015 and woke up with a British accent, still sounds English four years later
A former beauty queen from Arizona who claimed in 2015 that she went to sleep with a headache and woke up with a British accent - despite never having left the United States - still sounds English four years later.
Michelle Myers, 46, from Phoenix, Arizona, has an accent so strong that her daughter Rose, 17, calls her 'mummy,' rather than 'mommy' - leading people to think she was raised abroad.
Myers was diagnosed with foreign accent syndrome (FAS) in 2015 - a rare condition causing sufferers to talk with a foreign intonation, while still speaking their native language.
She said last year that she 'had a splitting headache and when I woke up, my voice was that of a completely different person'.
'I found it really difficult to begin with and people would think it was a joke - saying things like, "You sound like a Spice Girl," or, "Are you Mary Poppins?" It was hard, because I was really struggling,' she added.
The first time Myers woke up with an Irish accent. The second time it was Australian. Both incidents lasted about a week.
But in 2015, she woke up with a British accent and has had it ever since.
'I have come to terms with the fact I might sound like this forever. I realize it's part of me now,' Myers added.
Now an author and public speaker, Myers, a single mother to Destiny, 23, Diamond, 20, David, 18, Rose, 17, twins Tyler and Tyson, 15, and Sunshine, 14, started suffering with severe headaches in 2011.
Myers (pictured in 2015) was diagnosed with foreign accent syndrome (FAS) in 2015 - a rare condition causing sufferers to talk with a foreign intonation, while still speaking their native language
At the time of the first incident, Myers was living in Oklahoma. She would experience excruciating pain that would last for days
At the time of the first incident, Myers was living in Oklahoma. She would experience excruciating pain that would last for days.
Doctors told her that the pain was probably due to her hormones.
In May 2011, she suffered a particularly bad headache and, tried shaking it off by taking a nap. But when she woke up, she noticed her tongue felt different and she was speaking with an Irish accent.
'I tried to speak and my voice came out really differently,' Michelle explained. 'I started screaming and my family came in.
'At first, they thought I was just joking around, because I am a funny person.
'But I started crying and they realized something was really wrong. It was a joke in my family that I'm terrible at accents, so I think when they heard how good it was, they knew I wasn't kidding!
'I was scared to go to the doctor, though, because I thought he'd say I was just crazy, if I started sounding Irish, as I did at that point. '
After eight days, during which she hid at home, feeling self-conscious, Michelle's voice returned to normal.
Now an author and public speaker, Myers, a single mother to Destiny, 23, Diamond, 20, David, 18, Rose, 17, twins Tyler and Tyson, 15, and Sunshine, 14, started suffering with severe headaches in 2011
The first time Myers woke up with an Irish accent. The second time it was Australian. Both incidents lasted about a week. But in 2015, she woke up with a British accent and has had it ever since
With no further symptoms, she put the incident to the back of her mind, until it happened again three years later in 2014.
She explained: 'I had moved to California and was on a swing in my back garden when, suddenly, my head started hurting really badly.
'My ears were ringing and I felt pressure in my head. I passed out on the swing, which was the kind with a back to it, so I slumped over on the side. When I woke up, my face felt funny on the right side and my left hand felt tingly.
'I hollered and this time came out with an Australian accent. My mother was insisting that I should go to the doctor, but I was still reluctant and
