‘No one was talking about it’: Prince Harry opens up about suppressing his feelings following Diana’s death
‘What’s the point in thinking about someone that you’ve lost and you’re never going to get back again,’ says the duke
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Your support makes all the difference.In his new docuseries with Oprah Winfrey, Prince Harry opens up about his mental health and the impact of his mother’s death on his emotional wellbeing in the years after.
In the docuseries, The Me You Can’t See, Harry described feelings of “helplessness” as a young child when he witnessed Princess Diana crying as she tried to drive while being “chased by mopeds with paparazzi on”.
Recalling his mother’s funeral, which took place when he was 12 years old, the Duke of Sussex said it felt as though he was “outside of my body and just walking along, doing what was expected of me”.
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Remembering the aftermath of Diana’s death, he said: “I don’t want to think about her. Because if I think about her, then it’s going to bring up the fact that I can’t bring her back and it’s just going to make me sad.
“What’s the point in thinking about someone that you’ve lost and you’re never going to get back again? I just decided not to talk about it.”
Asked by Oprah Winfrey if anyone around him talked about the tragedy and the grief that followed, Harry claimed “no one was talking about it.”
He described going through life after that with his “head in the sand, fingers in the ears” and “just cracking on”.
When people asked him how he was, Harry would say he was fine because “fine was the easy answer”.
“But I was just all over the place mentally,” he continued. “Every time I put a suit and tie on, having to do the role [of being a prince]… before I even left the house, I was pouring with sweat.
“I was in fight or flight mode. Panic attacks, severe anxiety,” he added.
Harry said he experienced a fast heart rate and feeling as though his body temperature was higher than everyone else’s at public events.
“Towards my late 20s, I was starting to ask questions like, should I really be here?
“Family members have said, just play the game and your life will be easier,” he added. “But I’ve got a hell of a lot of my mum in me.”
During the series, Harry and Oprah speak to people about their mental health journeys. Celebrities like Lady Gaga and Glenn Close make an appearance telling diverse stories of mental health and emotional wellbeing.
The Me You Can’t See is available to watch on Apple TV Plus from Friday 21 May.
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