Stevie Wonder addressed the longstanding rumors that he isn't actually blind during a recent stop on his Love, Light and Song tour.
The 75-year-old was performing in Cardiff, Wales, on July 10 and had the perfect four-word response to theories about his eyesight.
Blindess
There has long been wild speculation that the chart-topper is faking his blindness, with rumors going into overdrive when former NBA star Shaquille O'Neal claimed in 2019 that Stevie recognized him in an elevator.
Comedian and actor, Anthony Anderson, also once joked that Stevie's blindness is "an act", telling Stephen Colbert in 2016 after he challenged the musician to a basketball game: "What y'all don't know is, Stevie can see. It's just an act."
© Getty ImagesHowever, during his performance in Wales, Stevie told the crowd: "You know the truth."
Dispelling the speculation, Stevie said in a fan video circulating social media: "I must say to all of you, something that I was thinking, 'When did I want to let the world know this?' But I wanted to say it right now.
"You know there have been rumors about me seeing and all that? But seriously, you know the truth."
He continued: "Truth is, shortly after my birth, I became blind. Now, that was a blessing because it's allowed me to see the world in the vision of truth, of sight. See people in the spirit of them, not how they look. Not what color they are, but what color is their spirit?"
It's not the first time Stevie has shared a thought-provoking message about his blindness.
In a 2024 episode of his The Wonder of Stevie audiobook series, he recalled how, as a child, he was able to remain positive about his disability, even though his mother, Lula Mae Hardaway, struggled.
© Getty Images"I was born. Shortly after that, I'm blind. My mother went through the different things, and so my experience with that was deep," he recalled.
Stevie said his mother would cry "every night" after his blindness was first diagnosed, leading him to eventually tell her: "Mama, you shouldn't cry, you're making my head hurt."
He added: "And I said, 'Maybe God has something for me that's bigger than all this.' History proved that true."
© Getty ImagesDiagnosis
Stevie was diagnosed with Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) at six weeks old. His condition was caused by too much oxygen in the incubator he was placed in after his premature birth.
ROP is when the growth of the eyes is aborted and causes the retinas to detach, resulting in blindness.
However, his visual impairment has never held him back. "I never thought of being blind as a disadvantage, and I never thought of being black as a disadvantage," he told The Guardian in 2012.
© Getty Images"I am what I am. I love me! And I don't mean that egotistically – I love that God has allowed me to take whatever it was that I had and to make something out of it."
Speaking to The New York Times in 1975, Stevie said his blindness played a significant role in his ability to create music.
"It's played a part in that I'm able to use my imagination to go places, to write words about things I've heard people talk about. In music and in being blind, I'm able to associate what people say with what's inside me."
