Actor Sterling K. Brown has shared an emotional update about his mother’s long battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), revealing that she has not been able to speak to him or anyone else for almost eight years.
The “This Is Us” star had earlier revealed that his mother, Aralean Brown, had been diagnosed with ALS in April 2018. Just a few months later in October, she lost the ability to speak due to the effects of the illness.
The revelation came on a recent episode of the “That Was Us” podcast, with Brown discussing his mother’s condition with co-hosts Chris Sullivan and Mandy Moore. He went on to explain that while ALS has had a severe effect on her physical well-being, her mental faculties are still sharp.
Sterling K. Brown Opens Up About His Mother
ALS is a progressive neurological disease that affects nerve cells responsible for controlling voluntary muscle movement. Over time, it destroys motor neurons in the central nervous system, causing a variety of symptoms. For Brown’s mother, this has led to a loss of speech as she can no longer control the muscles necessary to create sounds.
Speaking on the podcast, Brown said that his mother is “still all there” mentally. However, her physical limitations mean that he and his siblings have had to develop new ways of communicating with her that don’t rely on speech. “And if it takes us a bit longer to get the information, then it takes us a little bit longer,” he added. “But making sure each step of the journey, we are honoring what she wants.”
During the discussion, Brown also stressed that the disease hasn’t taken away her personality or understanding of the people around her. He was also keen to point out that Aralean continues to be incredibly positive despite living with the debilitating effects of the disease.
His Mother’s ALS Battle Mirrored ‘This Is Us’
As part of the podcast, Brown went on to explain how his real-life experiences mirrored much of the story of the final season of “This Is Us.” Throughout the closing stages of the show, his character Randall Pearson was forced to care for his mother Rebecca Pearson as she suffered from worsening Alzheimer’s disease.
Brown spent six seasons portraying Randall but found filming the final season particularly difficult and emotional given how he was also caring for his own mother in similar circumstances. The series also saw Randall dealing with the death of several family members.
“My mom has ALS, and there’s a point in time while we were shooting the show, and I remember going into the writers’ room and saying, ‘I don’t know which of my moms will pass away first,’ between my mom versus my TV mom,” Brown shared.
“And a lot of strange parallels were happening between Randall and myself,” he continued, saying that arguments between siblings over the best course of action were frequent both in the show and his own life.
