The Duke of Sussex, 36,”never thought” he’d turn to a professional for assistance but started therapy four years ago to”cure” from his previous trauma, including the death of his mom, Princess Diana.
“I wasn’t in an environment where it had been invited to discuss it… which was sort of, like, squashed,” he said in the first episode of the docuseries, which debuted about the streaming platform on Friday, May 21. “For many, many years that I did not even think about it. It wasn’t like I had been holding onto it. I was unaware of it. I always wanted to be ordinary instead of Prince Harry, just being Harry.”
“Sharing the grief of my mother’s death with the entire world… I was so mad with what happened to her. Along with also the fact that there wasn’t any justice in any way,” he added, noting that he”didn’t want to have the life” of a public figure at that moment. “Nothing came out of that. … And I simply chose not to discuss it.”
More recently, as a result of his time in therapy, Harry has been able to talk more openly about the impact of Diana’s passing on his mental health. “I was just all over the place, emotionally,” he said about the aftermath of losing his mom. “I was in fight or flight mode. Panic attacks, severe anxiety. So [age] 28 to probably 32 had been a nightmare period in my life.”
Pursuing skilled assistance was a major decision — he didn’t entirely make it alone. When he sparked a love using Meghan Markle at 2016, he knew he had to perform the work.
“I immediately established that if this relationship was going to work, I was going to have to deal with my past because there was anger there and it was not anger at her It was just anger and she realized it. She watched it,” Harry shared in the next installment. “So how do I fix this? And it was a case of,’You need to return to the past, go back to the point of injury, deal with it, process it and then move forward.'”
The pair tied the knot in May 2018 and welcomed their son, Archie, one year later. Back in January 2020, the couple announced their plans to step back from their positions as senior royal relatives. Two months later, they relocated to California. Before this season, Buckingham Palace confirmed the Sussexes, who are currently expecting baby No. 2, would not be returning as working royals.
“You’ve occasionally got to go back and to cope with really uncomfortable scenarios and to be able to process it in order to have the ability to heal. For me, therapy has equipped me to be able to undertake anything. That’s why I am here now. That is why my wife is here now,” Harry said in the sequence. “We chose to put our mental health . That is what we’re doing. And that’s what we will continue to do.”
