Early this year, James Middleton spoke publicly about being diagnosed with depression and ADD. After years of struggling without really knowing or understanding what was going on, it seemed like James had finally sought help, with the full support of the Middleton family. He actually credited his sister, the Duchess of Cambridge, and her work on mental health issues for helping him understand what was happening to him. We knew he went into therapy. What we didn’t know was that members of his family joined him in therapy, including Kate:
James Middleton has revealed that his sister, the Duchess of Cambridge, accompanied him to therapy sessions. Speaking to the Telegraph, 32-year-old James said that 18 months ago, when he was in the grips of depression, he attended a therapy session with his family – Kate Middleton included.
When asked which family members accompanied him to his Cognitive Behavioural Therapy sessions, James explained: “All of them. Not necessarily at the same time, but either individually and [sometimes] together. And that was so important because that helped them understand me and how my mind was working. And I think the way the therapy helped me was that I didn’t need my family to say, ‘What can we do?’ The only thing they could do was just come to some of the therapy sessions to start to understand.”
That’s so interesting to me that Kate was quietly attending sessions with her brother and she was not talking about it at the time (which is the right thing to do – this was not her story to reveal). Some of the best advocacy work comes from people who have experienced an issue first-hand, or have been a witness to it in their own family. I wonder if James’ struggles were actually a big part of Kate’s mental health work this whole time. Just regarding Kate: I’ve always maintained that she does give a sh-t about the work she does with mental health, my problem is with the way she explains it, or rather, doesn’t explain it. These are complicated issues but they are rarely presented as more than “Kate wore a dress and did a meeting.” Maybe that was why Kate attended therapy sessions with James too: supporting her brother, of course, but also trying to learn better ways of speaking about these struggles.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Instagram.
It does kind of make you see Kate’s Heads Together in a different light. But you’re right, Kaiser, she just does not have a “natural” presentation/execution of her ideas on how to accomplish her goals.
Have to say, I love that Ella, and all of James’ dogs, are a big part of his recovery/therapy. My pups throughout my life have always been my best “therapists”: they love unconditionally, listen, and offered a kiss and a snuggle after I’d vent 😊
While the Mids can fairly be criticized for some things, they truly are a supportive family in this. Kudos to them. It’s not always the case that a family accepts the reality of mental illness and lets itself be guided by professionals in helping on the road to recovery. I admire James for speaking of his experience, the taboo and the shame surrounding depression is still entrenched, especially for a man in “stiff upper lip” Britain.
I think this is interesting and important – that he is speaking out so openly about it. It’s great that his family was so supportive and i’m glad he seems to be doing better now.
I agree that I think Kate does care about mental health, but she just needs to talk about it differently. That’s why this interview from James is interesting IMO – because it seems like that experience would give Kate better insight into mental health issues, but it still feels like her insight falls flat. (and I don’t mean that I think she should have said, “well when I went to therapy with my brother….”) But it seems that often she pushes the idea that a stable family life and a supportive environment when you are younger helps with mental health issues, when she should know firsthand that anyone can suffer from depression and it can be quite debilitating.
That speech was a few years ago and I suspect before her brother advised them of his issues. I would like to think she wouldn’t say that otherwise.
@Nic – I hope you’re right. It will be interesting to see if this experience changes their approach to mental health in the future. But at the very least, its nice to see that their emphasis on talking about it and being open helped James, and hopefully his talking about it so openly can help others.
Does she care about mental health, really? Harry was the one who worked with mental health for years before W&K joined in. Good PR, where, we’ll take credit. Their usual MO.
Is it going back to what her cousin said about her, that she struggles to care or to find interest in the world around her? Can she only show the slightest spark of interest in something if it personally impacts HER? Says so much about her lack of empathy.
Mental health and mental well-being are such important issues. Family support is often key. However, I just feel like whatever he says and does nowadays is just a way to publicly keep him royal adjacent. He’s failed to launch as a businessman and hasn’t had the same level of success as his sisters, although theirs was through marriage alliances. I just think this is the continuation of a soft, slow sales campaign where he is concerned. He will show up in some cushy role when William becomes POW but by then people will have become so immune to Kate’s brother being in that orbit that they’ll just go “oh, that’s just James.”
You’ve got to give it to the Middletons for climbing together and sticking together. Good one for Kate, future queen consort, and Mother Britain. Healing Broken Britain in such a quiet dignified way🤢.
@Chelle, this is what I think of Middleton children too. They are simply grifters grifting off their sisters good fortune. I appreciate James’ first interview when he spoke about his depression and explaining things that were difficult for him. But after that he should have left, like Pippa has now pretty much left and I’m so happy about that. They’re all trying to make a career out of being royalty adjacent. Pippa has tried so many things to be in the news, 90% of them in the most grossly obvious manner. This is so obviously a trade – give us some info on Kate and you’ll get a feature from us.
Grifters = they are like the Trumps.
Failed Businessman = I know that it takes a lot of time to nurture a new business(es) and that there are a lot of losses before an entrepreneur will be successful sustaining the business and earning profits. However, I never got the sense that James was a serious entrepreneur based on what we know publicly about his various business attempts. He, like Pippa, looked to be sideways grifting instead to me.
His business continues to fail, he’s selling off equipment (even his custom trike), and who knows what happened to the investigation of him selling those white supremacist gift boxes on demand.
Maybe the Midds are trying to make him relevant so they can get discounts for his wedding, like Pippa’s obvious product placements in Fail articles about her wedding.
So many people were prepared to say that he wasn’t to blame for the nazi marshmallows but now he can’t be called a failed businessman? We need pick a lane here. Either he is not responsible for a business where nazi marshmallows were sold and thus negligent in terms of who runs his business, or else he was responsible and again negligent for letting this happen.
Kaiser, I think that’s a pretty healthy take. I think she DOES care, but unfortunately tends to fumble it up. I also wouldn’t be surprised if some of her interest in mental health education/awareness is tied into her brothers first hand experience.
At the end of the day, I think more people than not tend to struggle for at least a small period of their life in some way or another. Even if James is a bit of a joke in some ways, I think it’s admirable that he speaks openly about it all. The more people talk about it, the more understanding you’ll see happening.
Gotta admire the Mids on this front. I can totally see Kate attending sessions with James. As for how she presents herself and perspective on the issue of mental health, I think a large part of that is absolutely due to not wanting to outshine William. Now that James has come forward, can you imagine if Kate were to ‘allowed’ to speak candidly and ‘passionately’ about this? I don’t think she has the right kind of support from William to pull this off for fear of out shining Big Willy, which is all rather unfortunate.
I think the fact that the Middletons-all of them-were willing to attend sessions with James is incredibly kind and supportive.
I suffer from depression and have for years. I still don’t know how it has affected my thoughts and actions (my depression is part of a more recent overall diagnosis of bipolar disorder), but I know I could have used more support. My (now) ex-husband refused to talk about it, even when I suffered from postpartum depression, which has a straightforward cause. My brother and sister-although supportive in general-really don’t get it. They won’t talk about the particulars.
Being able to talk about how depression really feels and how it affects you and your actions to your loved ones fosters a level of support that is crucial to coping-and even thriving-with a chronic illness.
Good for James! He is very brave. I wish him the best.
I agree; I have suffered from depression for probably the past 15 years (not all the time, it comes and goes) and my parents are not really supportive. Like, they just don’t get it. Usually I can still function and live my life, so they just don’t see it. My SIL has really bad anxiety and had a breakdown about 7 years ago and my parents were very supportive of her, which was nice to see, but I think for them something like depression just doesn’t “click” because doesn’t everyone get sad sometimes?
Anyway I hope you’re doing well these days! It can be a really tough road to navigate sometimes.
Hugs to you Becks for keeping on & staying strong. I have been struggling with chronic depression for years now after a traumatic incident. I had a breakdown 2 years ago and quit my well paying job shortly afterwards because I couldn’t handle the social interactions that were 80% of my role as a corporate coach. Now I mostly do part time contract assignments where I can work alone. My partner is incredibly supportive and fortunately for me, makes a good living to support our family, whilst I get help. I do hope your parents rally around for you and help you through this, it really makes a difference. But even if they don’t, you’re not alone and you’re still fighting.
Thank you Evil Owl! I’m in a good place now so hopefully that continues.
And deal with our own mental health issues on top of everything else.
Am not going to jump on the guy for speaking out, men’s mental health is a very taboo subject and its a good thing the family is supporting him. But patting Kate on the head for doing something that any normal family would do really is clutching.
That’s the thing, you would think it would be normal to support a family member for this. But it’s still pretty rare. A lot of the times, family/friends may not supportive or involved or truly believe that mental health is an actual issue. So yes, I think we can pat Kate on the back for attending her brother’s therapy sessions when asked. I wouldn’t mind having that support.
Yet my comment saying that appears to have disappeared.
I mean, it’s not something any normal family would do though. James is very lucky his entire family attended those sessions with him, a lot of people refuse to acknowledge that mental health struggles exist at all. Say what you will about the mids profiting from Kate’s connection to the royal family, but they seem like an extremely solid supportive family unit.
Family therapy can be incredibly helpful in any kind of recovery, if family members will come, have an open mind, and be willing to look at their own sh*t. That last item in particular–it’s fairly common for families to be supportive and want to help, as long as they don’t have to admit that they have problems/are part of the problem. It’s a total game changer if everyone looks at themselves, instead of just the “identified patient” (as we say in the biz).
James’ pup is posed so beautifully on the red carpet 🙂
It’s good that Kate supports her brother along with the rest of the family in dealing with his depression. It isn’t always so with family and he is fortunate that his family cares enough to attend and support his therapy. Hopefully speaking out will help others who either deal with mental health issues themselves or have family or friends who do. I know from personal experience that support from family can make all the difference.