It felt like a kidnap...and it rendered me mute for about nine months. I couldn't speak the language, and if I spoke English I was abused for it. It was quite a culture shock: brutal. I was so traumatised and afraid that I stopped speaking and my [birth] parents thought there was something wrong with me, thought I was possessed... (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje)

It felt like a kidnap...and it rendered me mute for about nine months. I couldn't speak the language, and if I spoke English I was abused for it. It was quite a culture shock: brutal. I was so traumatised and afraid that I stopped speaking and my [birth] parents thought there was something wrong with me, thought I was possessed...

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

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birth culture english felt kidnap language mute nine quite shock something spoke speaking speak stop thought wrong months

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