Kimberly Williams-Paisley Finds Sharing Her Story ‘Empowering’

Kimberly Williams-Paisley knows first hand how difficult it is to watch a loved one battle with dementia as her mother, Linda, was diagnosed with the disease in 2005.

In an effort to share her story, her mother’s story, and to connect with others going through the same thing, Williams-Paisley penned a book, “Where the Light Gets In: Losing My Mother Only to Find Her Again.”

Since sharing the day-to-day struggles through she and her family have gone through since her mother’s diagnosis in the book, Williams-Paisley has heard stories from numerous people going through the same situations.

“I’ve loved telling my story, sharing my story, meeting other people with similar stories and telling the truth,” she told Sounds Like Nashville during a recent book signing in Nashville, TN. “It’s very different from acting, where I’m trying to play a role and play somebody else. This is totally authentic me and as I say, that’s been really empowering.”

While the topic of dementia is a tough pill to swallow, Williams-Paisley wanted her book to lift people. Because of that attitude, she found the title within a song that had become her own personal anthem.

“This title came from a song actually. A Leonard Cohen song, ‘Anthem.’ It just hit me one day,” she explained. “I had the lyrics sent to me and it was all part of the story and it became my anthem, just that idea of that we’re all broken and that wherever the cracks are, that’s how the light gets in, that’s where the light gets in. I just woke up one morning and I thought ‘Where The Light Gets In,’ because I wanted my story, although it’s tragic in a lot of ways, I wanted it to be very hopeful and inspiring and full of light and humor. To me, that’s where the healing takes place.”

See what else Kimberly Williams-Paisley had to say about her book, “Where the Light Gets In: Losing My Mother Only to Find Her Again” in our exclusive interview above.