Stevie Wonder lost his sight shortly after birth when he was born six weeks prematurely in May 1950 with retinopathy of prematurity, an eye disorder caused by abnormal blood vessels throughout the retina. “Receiving too much oxygen in the incubator likely worsened the condition for the tiny baby, leaving [Wonder] blind,” one outlet reported. Yet some fellow celebrities suggest the Saginaw, Mich. native isn’t quite as blind as he lets on.
Here are a few tales — some tall, some kinda plausible — that are making us reconsider everything we’ve ever known about the soul legend.
Shaquille O’Neal
During an episode of “Inside the NBA” in December 2019, O’Neal shared the story of when he ran into Wonder on an elevator in a Los Angeles building they were staying in. He recalled how Wonder turned to greet him, pressed his floor number, and walked out of the elevator to his unit... alone.
“I went and called every person I knew and told them this story. And they believed me,” O’Neal said.
Anthony Anderson
Back in September 2016, Anderson appeared on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” where he was asked if he “challenged Stevie Wonder to a basketball game?”
“What you all don’t know is Stevie can see,” Anderson replied. “It’s just an act. ... Yes, I did challenge him to a game of one-on-one basketball for a charity event he does for his son for intercity youth. He said, ‘Anthony, I don’t want to embarrass you one-on-one, so let’s just do it free throws and he won…. Stevie Wonder won.”
Lionel Richie
“I’m going to tell you something,” Lionel Richie said of Wonder on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” in December 2019. “I’ve been spending my whole life with him thinking he can see. I know he can see.” He began to tell the funniest story of when he “went to his [Wonder’s] house. He says, ‘Wanna hear a new song? I’ve got it in the car. C’mon, go with me.’ ”
According to Richie, Wonder told him to “sit on the passenger side [and] I’ll sit on the driver’s side” before Wonder “cranks the car up and puts the tape in. And then he does this [turns around] and starts driving back down the driveway. And I screamed, ‘Stevie! What are you doing?’ And he said, ‘Ah, got you, didn’t I?’”
Carmelo Anthony
During a podcast episode of “7PM in Brooklyn,” Carmelo Anthony recalled meeting Wonder for the first time during the 2011 NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles. While making his way around the locker room, Wonder, according to the former New York Knicks’ baller, approached him and said, “I love watching you play.”
Johnny Gill
Now, Johnny Gill is sharing his own experience with Wonder that had him questioning his blindness. Gill appeared on Shawn Stockman’s “On That Note” podcast where he called Wonder “the master of air hockey.”
“That guy beat all three of us, whipped our ass in air hockey,” the singer remembered, referring to himself, Keith Sweat, and Gerald Levert, who made up R&B group LSG. “I’ll never forget,” he added. When one of the hosts noted how air hockey is a “visual sport,” Gill couldn’t help but agree.
“I told Keith, I was like, ‘Yo, man, we can’t tell nobody this sh*t. I swear to God, he beat all three of us. And I said, ‘I don’t care what you say, motherf****r, you can see,’” Gill joked. He even complimented Wonder’s quick reflexes. “He was boom, boom, and serve it right back and I’m going, ‘Yo, man. There’s no way, man’. … I told Keith in the promise we would never tell nobody.”
Stevie Wonder himself...?!
Despite the numerous stories over the years from his famous friends, Wonder himself said back in February 2017 that he would tell the truth about his sight while speaking with “TMZ” at LAX. When asked if him and his family would appear in a reality TV show, Wonder declined because it’d be “too invasive.”
He joked how he could make a lot of money, enough to even “buy a few planes. Maybe fly them?” before admitting he flew a plane before... twice, and landed it. “This year, I will reveal the truth,” he declared when asked if he’d ever confess the honest status of his sight. Considering the proclamation was said eight years ago, and there’s been no official word yet, the world may never truly know.