I have a real question for the British peeps out there: when Prince William speaks about mental health in certain areas – say men’s mental health, or mental health in football – do you believe he’s speaking with any credibility? I used to think that William could legitimately help people here or there, and at worst his efforts were just neutral and rather basic. But everything that’s happened in the past few years, especially seeing how poorly William responded to a mental health issue within his own family, with his only brother, it just makes me angry to hear William try to adopt a patina of legitimacy. He couldn’t have cared less about what he was actively doing to harm his brother and sister-in-law. So why should I give a sh-t what William has to say about mental health now? Add to that, one of the last times William spoke about mental health in football, he spoke about racism and he said “I’m fed up with it, I’m so bored of it.” A real mental health giant.
So, William took part in a documentary called Football, Prince William and our Mental Health. It will air on May 28 in the UK. Part of the documentary is a conversation with former footballer Marvin Sordell. Some quotes:
Prince William is opening up about how becoming a parent was “one of the scariest” moments of his life, and how he and wife Kate Middleton work through their mental health challenges together. In a groundbreaking new documentary, Football, Prince William and our Mental Health, the prince, 37, says that having his three children — Prince George, 6, Princess Charlotte, 5, and Prince Louis, 2 — was his “biggest life-changing moment.”
In the new film, which airs on BBC One in the U.K. on May 28, the royal sympathizes with former soccer player Marvin Sordell, who suffered from depression and grew up without a father. William recalls the death of his own mother, Princess Diana, during their conversation. Sordell has talked openly about how his mental health challenges impacted his career in football and his personal life. Becoming a father “was the hardest time in my life,” he tells William.” You know, I found it really tough . . . I grew up without my father . . . I really struggled with my emotions at that time.”
William agrees as he opens up about losing his mom Diana, who died following a car crash in Paris in 1997. “Having children is the biggest life-changing moment, it really is . . . I think when you’ve been through something traumatic in life, and that is like you say, your dad not being around, my mother dying when I was younger, the emotions come back, in leaps and bounds,” William shares.
When Sordell admits that he “found it really tough” when he became a father, the prince says, “Me and Catherine, particularly, we support each other and we go through those moments together and we kind of evolve and learn together. I can completely relate to what you’re saying about children coming along — it’s one of the most amazing moments of life, but it’s also one of the scariest.”
“Me and Catherine, particularly, we support each other and we go through those moments together…” “Particularly”? He particularly supports Kate, but he might also support some other people? Rose? Also, William f–ked off to Cambridge to “audit” classes and hang out with coeds just months after Prince George was born. And all of this talk about how hard it was for William when he became a parent… think about what William was orchestrating against Harry and Meghan while Meghan was pregnant. The Times story about William actively seeking to exile Harry and Meghan because they were so popular came just a few weeks before Meghan gave birth to Archie.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Backgrid.
I’ve always assumed the jaunt to Cambridge was really for mental health treatment. My brother in law discovered he had a mountain of unresolved issues about his dad dying when he was young after the birth of his first child.
The words like “fragile” he chose to use in regards to his brother’s admission in the documentary that he was having/had had a difficult time, reveals his true feelings about mental health. William is truly bad at hiding his real feelings about anything (joking about “No, you have a cough” when asking first responders about coronavirus). While most of us would just tell ourselves to be quiet, William is incapable of it because he is so self-important.
Agreed. It’s patently clear in this grammar-poor opener, “Me and Catherine…”
Thank you! That “Me and Catherine, particularly” line struck me. This dork can’t even speak the Queen’s English!
His gas lighting his brother with his BS “fragile” nonsense was probably the most egregious thing he’s done. Just disgusting.
He has a University education and he talks like that.
Yikes! Sounds like a teenager.
Well, he does seem to be a “me me me” kind of guy.
When he says “Me and Catherine “ he is putting himself first even if it is grammatically incorrect. If he were to say “Catherine and I” he would be putting himself second. I don’t think he can accept second place. Just a quick little glimpse into the subconscious.
I think this is important to William based on his own needs but he comes first even if it’s not healthy behavior. I think mental health is important to him in terms of what makes him feel good which is why he can focus on mental health and still gaslight his brother.
The same way that family can advocate for the environment and then travel by helicopter and private plane and live in multiple enormous homes.
Moot point in my opinion Meghan and Harry don’t take private jets all the time. They’ve been threatened repeatedly and they usually engage in carbon neutral options so as not too damage the environment. As for the houses. You do realize I can leave in a 50 bed house and I use only two rooms right? They’re not turning on the lights in every part of the house they’re not using. But William has actively spoken out on cyberbullying but they don’t even bother deleting and blocking comments abusing Meghan and Archie under their Instagram and twitter pages. Hypocrisy no? How do they think it will affect her mental health?
Well you asked, so here is a British person’s view: For me personally, the royals are not significant. I’m a republican and I am not influenced by what they do or say. I do recognise good work done by Charles regarding the environment and sustainability, and I’m acknowledging this because he was on those issues before it got fashionable.
I do think that the younger royals speaking about mental health issues helps a lot. This is because it invariably gets press and makes the issue super “mainstream”. When William and Harry spoke about their mother’s death and the importance of mental health, yeah I think that made an impact to have these very famous people be open about it.
About William’s involvement in smearing Meghan and ostracising the Sussexes, there seems to be no evidence he or Kate are behind it. I know, I know, I’ll probably get yelled at for this and to anyone following closely it’s obvious, etc. but to me it’s mostly speculation (I’m not saying it can’t be true). I guess you can consider me the average British person. We (those who choose to see of course) see with our eyes what the tabloids have done and said about Meghan. But we don’t actually have that kind of evidence re who is involved behind the scenes.
So when I see William’s involvement with mental health, particularly for men, I think it’s a good cause and it’s important to deal with issues in the football world, and the more open the discussion, the more famous people talk about it, the better.
Seconded. I think the majority of British people don’t take a huge interest and can see things fairly neutrally. It can be true that a select proportion of the British Media have treated Meghan deplorably but it can also be true that there is no hard evidence that K&W are behind it. The media can be an incredibly useful entity but they can also be pack dogs. Their behaviour towards Meghan was like watching a gazelle get wounded and then the frenzy after when the madness heightens to bring the gazelle down.
Mental health wise, I do think it helps that a younger generation brings focus to these incredibly important issues. I think Harry did it very well because he comes across very relatable, but it doesn’t mean that William’s efforts should be unappreciated, notwithstanding the fact that he may not be as effective as his brother. It’s still an effort and it should be encouraged, especially by this site which often complains that W&K don’t do anything. In particular reference to the ‘I’m fed up, I’m bored with it’ comment in terms of racism, I prefer to give the benefit of doubt and say that this was his very clumsy way of saying that it was disturbing that this still remains an issue, when there is so much horrifically wrong with racism worldwide. To reiterate I think it was a clumsy and naive comment, and I appreciate that I will not feel the anger and disgust towards it that others do, because I am white. So whilst I don’t think it was intended to be a brush off – I can respect those that think otherwise.
I also suffer with very bad (at times) mental health and I have been called ‘fragile’ by many a mental health professional who should know better. It is an affront to how ‘tough’ you have to be to live with monsters inside your head. So the eyes rolled massively at that one.
The leaked anti Meghan stories I believe came from them IMO. The Kate crying one certainly did. And the couple blatantly in the middle of all the trashing of Harry’s taking a private jet, staged a super obvious PR stunt where they “struggled out” of a jet holding their luggage with the two eldest rushing behind them. There seem to be Kate and William “bots” who deride Meghan and Harry and praise Kate and William to the skies. I also notice how William is talking about his mother yet Harry is derided for it. I don’t think William is the best one to talk about Mental Health considering the way he treated his brother. His glares at his brother and his wife were downright scary and Kate’s pursing her mouth in self righteous disapproval also spoke volumes.
How do you reconcile comments that William made calling Harry fragile for talking about his mental health in the South Africa interview? While a lot of the other stuff can be discounted, that was a pretty dumb thing to say when Harry was talking about his feelings, which includes the death of his mother. It seems right now that William can talk about his mother without criticism but Harry cannot. That’s a very mixed message to send with respect to this issue.
@nic919, him calling Harry fragile was also a “sources say” situation wasn’t it? In any case, I’m not saying he didn’t say it (and that *is* a very shitty thing to say particularly in that moment), but I guess I was more addressing the effectiveness of a mental health campaign involving William. I feel like the average person isn’t going to think, well these are the things he’s said about and done to his brother so screw his MH campaign. The average person isn’t paying close attention to the royals, so it will be covered in all the media that William is talking about men’s mental health, thus destigmatizing the issue a little. And I’d consider that effective.
Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and say they were not behind the attacks, but doesn’t it look bad that they have not shown any support, to their own sister in law and brother? How can anyone take them seriously, when they talk about mental health, bullying and diversity when a member of their own family, was attacked so badly, and they said and did nothing. How can they urge people to get help and speak out on these issues, when they weren’t willing to do the same for their own family, with the whole world watching? They are just not walking the talk.
Yes I think it looks bad.
William openly snubbed Meghan at that Christmas service, and the Meghan critics all cheered “Isn’t William WONDERFUL.” ANd what sort of brother tries to mastermind his own brother’s choice of girlfriend. Who does William think he is? He wanted to keep Harry as the Third Wheel and if Harry were “lucky” William might find some woman he feels is “appropriate” for him or Kate might. The Harry-Pippa matchmaking did not work after all. Kate if she had any sense of decency would have issued a statement denying the crying story. I suspect Kate worked up tears and rushed to complain to “bad” Meghan and somehow leaked the story to the press.
@Ela, yeah it looks bad, to people who are paying attention. As I said above, most British people don’t pay much close attention. We know that the royals don’t traditionally issue statements about much of anything, so that’s not surprising (yes I know they speak anonymously to outlets or their people do, but most people don’t know this or don’t care much about it). I think one of the things that have made waves in the mainstream (this is of course my view, and based on my community of people) is that shortly after the Sussex exit, that comparison of racist tabloid headlines and how people like Piers Morgan have hounded Meghan. People were really shocked by this, this stark evidence of this campaign against Meghan. But the every day stuff (onslaught you might say) that we discuss here, doesn’t make as much impact.
I think that’s great. Mental health isn’t talked about enough.
I’m watching jeffrey epstein and I want to put my head in a wall. How did he get away with this?
That’s such a dumb title
Does Penis With Teeth’s mental health advocacy in football only extend to Anglo-Saxons of the pasty persuasion? After all, he’s so very bored with racism; what could he possibly have to say to a person of colour. Unless, of course, it’s Meghan: then she should be ‘sent to Africa’. Too much mental fragility for him to deal with, even though he was a root cause of it. Faugh. His posturing makes me sick. I can’t see any way of rehabilitating him, frankly
It’s been brought up many times on here before, but outside staunch royalists I think the majority of us Brits couldn’t care less about the royals beyond questioning what they cost us and what their purpose is. They are not elected officials and they don’t make decisions that have bearing on our day to day lives. I remember someone on here once compared them to the Kardashians for Americans and I do think that’s pretty apt: if we think about them at all, it’s like how we might think about a soap opera – i.e. maybe a passing interest in what’s the latest ‘drama’.
So no – I don’t think William is particularly respected over here or has much credibility doing something like this – however what he does have is a large platform. Having him as the figurehead for this campaign means it will be promoted in the media and anyone in a position to get a message across about the importance of mental health in typically ‘macho’ areas like football should be applauded and encouraged. So I’m not going to shit on that.
@Lady Baden-Baden, I agree with your entire comment. And the comparison to the Kardashians is actually very apt I feel. Of course the Kardashians have many more followers and appear in various platforms a gazillion times more, but it’s a good comparison in the sense that both are very niche interests. You can have people know everything about the Kardashians if they follow them, but you can equally have people who don’t know shit about them except the basics. With the royals, of course there is much less info to go on, but you have the fans and the stans who follow everything and then the average person who knows very little.
I just think he has been a crashing disappointment. What exactly does he *do* apart from leaking whispers to his pet reporters. You never see him out on his own. I’d wonder if he’s actually jealous of Harry without realising it. It is SO obvious he doesn’t want to be King, but there is no way he can back out of it now. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if he spent the day gaming upstairs while Kate is trying to look after the kids.
I think he and Kate are as immature as each other. They won’t work, because ewww peasants. I think he’s certainly aware of mental health, certainly after Diana died because that was so horribly public and traumatic, but I don’t 100% buy that he genuinely cares about other people’s mental health, or let’s face it, other people. This guy has no problem flinging his brother, his father, and his uncle under the bus when it has suited him. He’s got a pretty ruthless streak of his own.
There’s clearly not enough people in his life who’ll stand up to him. Kate isn’t going anywhere, and isn’t it strange how he basically got away with the Rosebush affair? Everyone seems to have forgotten about it.
I think the nanny spends a lot of time with the kids while Kate works with her personal trainer and stylists. Kate will go somewhere if William wants her out.
Oh for sure. There is no way Kate is handling that brood without a nanny 🙂
So how’s the counselor training and helicopter co-piloting going? You know, the work William was “considering” doing?
So after calling his brother “fragile” for speaking about his mental health he still thinks he has a right to preach about this?😤
The way William and Catherine support each other mentally is by thinking of ways to make his sister-in-law law miserable and weaponize the press and palace against her to drive her, and his brother and nephew out of the country, Such great relief. When that’s not enough to relieve their anxiety, they still try to smear and stalk them from abroad. Such a great stress release and something him and wife and can together. What a hypocrite. I would never support any/charity he is patron of. Can’t unsee what he really is.
he and his wife put it all out there on full display at the commonwealth service. his behavior is despicable in every sense of the word, a further example is when he called his brother fragile and said he has carried him so far and can do no more. he has no right to speak on that subject.
and i have now come to understand when some say they pay the royals no attention (whilst repeatedly posting on royal public forum topics) what they mean is they would rather turn a blind eye. yes they turn a blind eye to corruption and others suffering and therefore would not know about the nature and character of the one about whom they will one day sing ‘God save the King.’
RoyalBlue 👏👏👏
No, Kaiser, William has no credibility when talking about mental health. Given how he has taken advantage of his brother his entire life, tried to destroy his SIL’s mental health, and keeps attacking his brother out of jealousy and pettiness. He and Karen Middleton only got ‘interested’ in mental health charity after Harry was praised for his work in the area. This is not an honest interest in the W&K household, merely another set of PR ops.
No doubt he will be crying about Diana for the TV audience to sympathise with him. I always gave William a pass for talking about his mother, cos I can’t imaging how painful that must have been for him, but when harry talked about grieve during a speech he was accused of using Diana to ‘cash in’. I don’t usually begrudge either of them taking about their mother, but William won’t get accused of ‘cashing in’ on his mother’s death during this TV appearance where the sole purpose is to promote himself.