The press and the paparazzi made Princess Diana’s life hell for years. In an attempt to “manage” the narratives around her, Diana would often work with members of the press as well. She had her favorite journalists and favorite photographers, and she would often call them up to personally give them exclusives. My point is not “Diana worked with the press so she should have never criticized her treatment.” Not at all – I’m just saying there was more nuance to the situation around Diana entirely, and the media landscape was SO different in the 1980s and 1990s too. My point is also… while the paparazzi trailing Diana and Dodi Fayed had a hand in Diana’s death in 1997, Diana died because Henri Paul was drunk as a skunk AND speeding. Diana died because Dodi Fayed couldn’t decide where they should go and what they should do, and the Fayeds’ security team were doing a sh-tty job of protecting her. Again, there’s a lot of nuance there. It was never “the press killed Diana” case closed.
So…I’m not trying to tell Prince Harry or Prince William how to feel about their mother’s death. They can and should feel however they want, and of course they both have every right to talk about Diana and find inspiration from her memory. But I think they’ve both been sold a major lie, a lie they’ve clung to all of these years: the lie that their mother’s death is solely the fault of the press. It’s just not true. This came up again in Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, the documentary which will air this Sunday in the UK on ITV, and it will air next Wednesday on ABC here in America. Here’s what Harry said in a newly released clip:
In a newly released clip from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s upcoming ITV documentary, Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, the world-famous royal describes his late mother’s passing as a “wound that festers.” In discussing the media’s impact on his personal life, Harry remarked, “I think [of] being part of this family, in this role, in this job every single time I see a camera, every single time I hear a click, every single time I see a flash. It takes me straight back, so in that respect it’s the worst reminder of her life as opposed to the best.”
Prince Harry was just 12-years-old when Princess Diana died in a 1997 car crash while attempting to escape the paparazzi. The Duke has made it his life’s mission to continue Diana’s philanthropic efforts, and did so during the Africa trip by walking through the same active minefield Diana famously did to help raise awareness for landmine clearing. “Being here now 22 years later, trying to finish what she started will be incredibly emotional but everything that I do reminds me of her,” Prince Harry explained. “But as I said, with the role, with the job, and the sort of the pressures that come with that, I get reminded of the bad stuff usually.”
I’m including the clip below. I get that Harry is legitimately worried about how the press is treating his wife, and I completely understand the parallels between the press harassment of Diana and the racist smear campaign against Meghan. That’s legit. It also doesn’t help that Meghan is a lot like Diana – a photogenic, glamorous, philanthropic people-person with a lot of emotional intelligence. Of course there’s media interest in Meghan, just as there was interest in Diana. Meghan has become “the big show” in the Royal Family, much like Diana was the biggest headline in her lifetime. But again, the press didn’t kill Diana. I feel like… Harry needs to actually read some of the sh-t from all of the official inquiries into his mother’s death, honestly.
Watch Harry & Meghan: An African Journey on Sunday at 9pm on @ITV#HarryAndMeghan https://t.co/FEy37XVASW pic.twitter.com/zIligJpmrv
— ITV News (@itvnews) October 17, 2019
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and Backgrid.
It sounds like PTSD though. What a trauma to be struck with at that age. I can understand.
This is how it sounded to me, too. (obviously we are not his doctors and it always feels a little wrong to speculate but… yeah.) My heart goes out to him. I hope he knows that it’s ok if he wants to step away for a bit and seek additional treatment or just catch his breath.
ITV just posted a clip of Meghan’s interview and she seems close to tears the whole time. I do think the reporting of how angry and hurt they’ve been over the last year has been proven true. My fear is that this is not going to be received well because people will claim they—very privileged people—are portraying themselves as victims, but I sincerely hope that’s not the case and everyone shows them some compassion.
+100
Just by reading some of the comments here I’d say your fear is coming to life Lexa. In a perfect world Harry’s and Meghan’s words would help others to take a step back and look at their behavior and perhaps reflect on why they are acting with such cruelty. Unfortunately the world is not perfect and most people would rather have a root canal without novacaine then take a hard, honest look at their behavior.
Well the trolls are infesting the other post on this topic so I won’t hold my breath for any compassion.
i just saw the clip too, and my heart went out to her. This vitriol is relentless.
The tabloids have decided that she is their new Fergie, and fighting against them will be an uphill battle because negative stories drive more traffic than positive ones.
Even though Meghan is at the receiving end if this, i think she is a lot stronger than Harry is and she will weather this storm.
Harry on the other hand, has always been the darling of the media, praised and idolised and his recent comments give the impression that he isn’t coping with this reversal of fortune. I hope he is getting professional help and that he steps back if he feels the need. If they want to stop their public life, they should.
I feel like their haters want to see them quit and their fans want to live vicariously through them but really, this is a decision they need to take for themselves alone.
They turn everything around so that she always loses in the end no matter what she does. At the end of the day she probably doesn’t read the gossip rags and does a lot of meditation . She s probably not as affected as they intend and they are mainly feeding the frenzy of the racist mob for clicks.
Exactly my thought. It sounds like chronic PTSD, in that he’s not only constantly reminded of his grief but he associates it with a rather real risk to himself and his loved ones as well. That’s an enormous amount of stress to live with. My heart broke for him the day of his mother’s funeral, and it still weeps for him today.
It’s so tough for him, he was only 12. My husband lost both his parents when he was about Harry’s age and you just never get over it. The scars are always there.
I agree wholehearted Minx. My husband suddenly lost his dad around that age, slightly older, and he has never fully come to terms with it. It’s like the shadow following him. To make it harder, attitudes surrounding mens mental health have aong way to go, although I’m so pleased to see how that conversation has progressed over the last several years.
Exactly what Im thinking. It was a traumatic event that clung to his young mind until always.
You know, one of the most eye opening things I’ve ever watched was audio of the vile things paparazzi say to get their “subject” to turn around so they could get a photo. It.was.awful. The more I hear Harry (and to a letter extent-William) speak about this, the more I realize that I know nothing about how damaging it was for him and those involved.
I have so many thoughts on this issue – Kaiser lays it out really well up there – but there is no doubt that the paparazzi are absolutely disgusting, and with absolutely no cause to be. I think Diana bore responsibility for her terrible decisions that night (I like Tina Brown’s story of the night). She could have insisted they stayed put at the hotel restaurant, could have refused to venture out, could have worn her seatbelt… Harry and Will are right that the press absolutely hounded her. The fact that she had a working relationship with various press doesn’t make their maltreatment of her acceptable and to say so is akin to saying a stripper or prostitute deserves sexual assault because they are sex workers. She didn’t deserve it. But she could have made one better decision – buckling up – she would very likely still be here.
Yes, that too – Diana would have likely survived the crash had she worn her seat belt.
From all reports I have read ” buckling up” would probably have saved her life.
Actually she didn’t just have a working relationship with various press. During that specific vacation she called the paparazzi herself and in fact we have various pics of her sunbathing in Sardinia on Dodi’s boat. I suppose in that specific moment that relationship was part of her PR strategy.
It was completely her business, of course, to do so at her best convenience, and I don’t blame her for that. However this, combined with the fact that Dodi was now in charge of her security, and they were now in the open, having dinner with normal folks at his restaurant, moving erratically from one spot to the other, all contributed to the tragic events.
It is very telling that the ONLY one to survive (although severely injured) was the security officer in the front seat, who WAS wearing a seatbelt. Diana’s sister came out with a statement that the back seatbelt must’ve been defective as Diana *always* wore her seatbelt, but I don’t recall hearing that it was defective. You have to wonder why security didn’t insist she fasten her belt… we will never know why she didn’t, probably just wanted to get out of there.
Sigh… so many “what ifs…?”
Seatbelt or not she was still being chased by the paps.
@ Sassy
Exactly. Of all the factors that contributed to that crash, in my estimation, being chased by speeding and ruthless photographers was the most weighty one.
The driver did not need to be drunk for the speed to have induced the crash, and the chasing photographers caused the speeding.
I think over time, these guys have had the time and influence to manage the perceptions of the events of that night, to their advantage. Wouldn’t even be surprised if some of the “findings” of that night were doctored to suit the agenda of the “powerful” forces” behind this industry.
If the driver wasn’t drunk he wouldn’t have been speeding from photographers, he turned it into a race. She should have been wearing a seatbelt.
Her biggest mistake, I think, was letting Dumb Dodi make all the decisions. He was the one who thought they could out-race the paps, and the driver he chose, one of his father’s employees, was an incorrigible alcoholic as well as being unqualified to be a chauffeur. His so-called bodyguards just did as they were told rather than assessing the risks and saying no to Dodi’s stupid decisions.
I’m glad Kaiser mentioned the role of Dodi in that night because in all that I’ve read about it, it comes out loud and clear that he was a immature idiot who was parading his prize new girlfriend around and making lots of irresponsible choices. The bodyguards didn’t agree with his “let’s leave the Ritz by the back with a decoy car in the front so there is a chase and we trick the paps and don’t let them get the shot!” strategy. But the bodyguards worked for Dodi’s daddy and knew they could not disobey Dodi. It’s too bad Diana did not have her own security with her that night.
But regardless of all the factors that led to the crash that night, one chilling truth is that paps swarmed around the car crash scene that night and it is reported there was a steady hum of cameras clicking and flashes popping in that tunnel. I could see how that is absolutely haunting to Harry.
It was an inside job. TQ probably wasn’t informed of it (altho who knows?) WHY were the cameras in the tunnel turned off? What about that other car? You know, the white one with the “poodle” in it, which was also in the tunnel, and which was never found.
WHY were the cameras off right then?
The f’n BRF bumped her off and blamed the paps. And they did it on a weekend when many folks weren’t looking.
The paps are utter shite. But they didn’t do that. MI5 did.
Harry (and all y’alls) can believe whatever you want. But I squarely blame MI5.
It’s interesting the way in which both William and Harry talk about and seem to think about their mother. I think they have been sold this idea and they’ve built upon it with each other, probably feeding into and reaffirming each others thoughts. I do wonder whether anyone has ever challenged their perception or whether everyone has been too afraid to go there. Honestly it sounds as though they could both do with talking to a good therapist to help them make their peace with this.
While I see where Kaiser is coming from with the comparisons between Meghan and Diana, I don’t think it’s on anything like the same scale. I think in Harry’s mind it is but the public feeling was incredibly strong with Diana. I don’t think the same exists with Meghan, at least here in GB. Diana was put on a pedestal. People loved her to a crazy extent. The only thing I can compare that to now is Beyonce and her fans. I don’t think most people have strong feelings either way regarding Meghan, even though the press would like you to believe she is much hated.
I think the public loved Diana because they empathized with her especially when Charles’ cheating came out in the open. Camilla was vilified and Diana was put on a pedestal and the events that spun out of control after that played out like a soap opera. I agree there is no comparison with Meghan and Diana in that regard. The public have not reached that deeply felt sense of empathy as yet with Meghan.
I agree the press did not kill Diana. It was almost like a symbiotic relationship. The press needed her but Diana uses the press too. Interviews and leaks went to her benefit to get her story out. On the contrary Meghan does not use the press but she is attempting to bypass the press using IG to co tell her narrative.
Regardless in the boys’ mind they have many unhappy memories of their mother’s relationship with the press and whilst it may not have caused her death physically they may see it as a contributing factor to her mental health/stress and just as they were there from trying time she posed in the skirt with no slip they were there at her end and untimely death.
I think they have used the media too. She must have ok’d her friends to go to People magazine to speak on her behalf and as well to address the letter to her father. SM wasn’t around in Diana’s day and the Sussex’s are using IG to control their brand and media narrative. Which is good and likely the best tool they have to communicate with their fans and followers. And it’s been pointed out before that Harry had a decent relationship with the British press. That was until Meghan came along and as we know things have changed drastically.
@Nahema Harry never said he is comparing Meghan’s status with the public to Diana’s, only the treatment by the press. Stop twisting things. And I think “making peace with it” has nothing to do with being mad about the way his wife is being hounded right now in 2019. No human being should be treated like that, it’s not journalism, it’s malicious. Stop victim blaming. And the press most certainly had a hand in what happened that night, chasing the car on motorcycles like that.
I was referring to Kaisers article, not something Harry had said so please calm yourself down.
I don’t know which 90’s you’re remembering, but during the one I lived through Diana was not on a pedestal—she was treated ruthlessly in the papers until she died.
Only then was she worshipped.
Cosign.
(I’m also a Diana Truther. I don’t blame the paps. I blame MI5. Which would be a lot harder for her sons to cope with…)
Diana was not well liked the years before her death. The public tired of her and her fan base shrunk considerably. She wasn’t a threat to the monarchy in any way as she already showed all her cards in her book thru Andrew Morton. I find it really hard to believe any reason MI5 would be involved. She was far out of the loop at that point in her life with little influence outside of her charities.
Nahema, I agree, and just want to add that the lie of a sole factor being to blame is a very natural way of coping. I lost my father traumatically at the same age William lost Diana, (I just faced the latest anniversary actually, been crying all week) and I honestly don’t know how any teen could ever healthily process a Diana-level situation. A false narrative is an understandable survival mechanism for kids, but most of us manage to accept reality by the time we reach adulthood. I think, sadly, that lie has gotten too big for either prince to ever detach from it.
He was witness to the paparazzi harassing and bullying his mother, that’s traumatic and yes the driver was speeding but he was chased by the paps, so it’s the driver’s fault but without the paparazzi chasing them Diana probably wouldn’t have died this way that night. It’s not black and white, I mean. It’s harsh to straight up say Harry is lying.
That’s where I’m at with it as well. They wouldn’t have been jetting out of there if it weren’t for the paparazzi. Yes, bad decisions were made, but I think the whole evading the paps thing was the root issue and every bad decision cascaded from there.
So I totally see where Harry is coming from.
“The root cause” is the *PERFECT* description of the press’ role in the accident. Just to highlight it again (cause it’s so accurate)…
*THE ROOT CAUSE*
(I’ve tried illustrating this above, in a much poorer way)
+1
Agree.
In a civil case there would have been liability attributed to the paparazzi chasing down the car. While the drunk driver is mostly at fault, the car wouldn’t have been speeding down the road if they weren’t being chased.
Of course Harry had to deal with this at age 12 so it’s hard for him to be able to pick up nuance when his mother died. William is not any better either on this subject. And with the media continuing to violate their privacy through hacking and other means, it’s not like they would develop a better view of them.
Yeah, its not black and white. Diana may have died that night without the paparazzi chasing her; she made some poor decisions overall that night and unfortunately paid with her life. Drunk drivers, as horrible as it is, kill people every day without being chased by the paparazzi.
But, given the overall events of that day in particular, it does not seem likely that they would have been in that car speeding with a drunk driver with no seatbelt were they not being chased/hounded. And I’m sure that being chased added to the erratic driving and speeding etc. So I’m not really comfortable with the notion that “Diana didn’t die because the paparazzi was chasing her.” She didn’t die JUST because they were chasing her. It was definitely a combination of factors.
That said, think of how Harry grew up, with the press everywhere, his mother hounded (as much as she used the press at times, she was definitely hounded), etc. I can see her death just kind of being the final straw in that. and as it did happen when he was so young, it probably impacted him in ways that many of us cant fathom.
I agree. And the same people constantly harassing her for their shots were the same types who were chasing her that night and taking photos of her badly injured on the backseat of that car. There’s a clip where he speaks of knowing how certain images made it back to editors’ desks in the U.K. after she passed. Images of her injured and in her last moments.
I don’t know if he’s suggesting they outright killed her. But perhaps he’s suggested that they commodified her, harassed her and invaded her privacy even right up until the moments she died. Without care.
I mean. I might hate them too.
This. Remember the photo of that huge scrum of photographers crowding around the wrecked car each trying to get THE photo of a dying woman? Not a single one trying to help her? (Not that they could have really helped at that point, but still.) It was utterly inhumane. Because as you say they saw her as a commodity, not as a fellow human.
Exactly
I think Harry needs to quit complaining, quit explaining, keep calm and carry on as he is not doing himself any PR favors with line of commentary toward the British tabloid press.
They’re after his wife, so why should he “do himself any favors”? And he’s allowed to say how he feels.
He is not “complaining and explaining” he is answering a question. If no one asked the question, there would be no need for the response. @celebitchy, not sure if you saw the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death documentary. Harry’s issue seems to be that rather than helping her while she was dying, the paparazzi took photos of her dying in the back seat. Thus killing her by not helping her. The other nuance is that she was being chased, thus putting them in danger.
Yeah he needs to quit complaining about the royal reporters. In the mean time they can continue taking racist pot shots at wife. 👍
IMHO, the British Tabloids with their frenzy-whipped commentariat are the major problem. There really is only two ways to with the tabloids: you either ignore them or play ball with them. IMHO, Diana played ball with the tabloids.
He’s been doing that for years and where has that gotten him?
Nope. He has done that for years while the press continues to make up lies to destroy her because they hate that an American black biracial woman is his wife.
One should never have to keep quiet when he sees someone he loves being abused, esp racially abused, for fun and profit.
The privilege attached to just ignoring racial abuse is telling.
That is a bullshit take and you should be ashamed. Quit complaining? About racist paps and media hounding him and his family? About the very real trauma he’s experienced? Nah. He doesn’t need to capitulate to them and he already is carrying on every time he fucking works. Go away with that nonsense.
+ 1000
@MrsBanjo, Hear hear, totally agree. He said it wouldn’t be the safe way, but the decent one. I think they are very aware of the repercussions but the nastiness was going to continue no matter what they did or didn’t do. It’s not like they’ve been all over the press complaining. They filed their lawsuit, issued their statement, and addressed some of their struggles it one documentary that probably covers a lot of other things as well. People need to seriously get a grip.
That’s a terrible take
I think @Bay some of the “Fail” stench is starting wear off on you. Maybe you feel more comfortable there?
@MsIam, I see where you are coming from and your comment on me is justified with some of the post I made today. What I was trying to say is that, complaining about the press will not do any good whatsoever, will not change public perception of the Meghan haters and will not rally the BRF to his side. For me I say to myself, “why would I want to go on television to bare my soul when my efforts will not change anything and may cause me more emotional harm.
As much as I like and admire Meghan, she’s in an entirely different position than Diana was. She’s fortunate to be able, with Harry, to make more decisions about their level of public exposure. The internet actually helps them with that, due to their Instagram etc.
Diana never had that opportunity because she was first the future queen, then the divorced Princess of Wales. She had to be front and center all the time, so she definitely would bargain with the press so that they might agree to leave her alone sometimes, especially with the boys.
I think it goes both ways. The internet also makes her more vulnerable because people can disseminate information about where she is and it requires a higher level of safety (people trying to mail her white powder, that one crazy lady trying to fly to England to “rip off her baby bag” to “prove” she wasn’t pregnant, etc.)
“one crazy lady trying to fly to England to “rip off her baby bag” to “prove” she wasn’t pregnant, etc.”
I never understood why this “crazy lady” was not prosecuted for “Intent” to cause bodily harm. I think I read somewhere the expenses of her trip to NYC were covered by crowd-funding which is even scarier to me.
the internet also gives us the trashy racist M*gxit trolls spreading lies as well as the Robert Jobson and Richard Palmer types that cultivate those trolls plus retweet them to amplify.
Even if the driver was drunk and even if Diana did not put the safety belt on, the press is responsible for three people being killed.
They were haunting them in big groups that night and they were lurking outside of this hotel. If the press had not been waiting outside, Paul would most probably not have driven the car and whoever drove it then, would not have been speeding.
I woke up in the morning, switched the TV on and it said, Diana is dead. It was like someone had switched the lights off. It was so horrible.
Before anyone say he needs to quit pulling the Diana card. Diana was HIS MOTHER not some image on tv or in the tab. Why shouldn’t he talk about it, he witnessed it. I mean reporters who didn’t even know her get to talk about her, give interviews and write books about her. Her butler who stole from her when her lifeless body was still lukewarm gets to give his useless opinion about her.
Plus he was 12. I’ve never understood the whole William and harry need to stop bringing up their mother.
Not only that, but they were dealing with the paps from childhood. This was going on for years before Diana’s death and they were raised in it. Her position should have protected her and it didn’t. Now with his wife you have the constant pile on from racist trolls day after day. It needs to stop.
Plus, the current press treatment of his wife makes it impossible for the wound to heal completely, when it constantly get ripped open again and again by the same group of people
Maybe everyone should finally let Diana Rest In Peace. Every other word written is a “sweet nod to Diana” in describing every thing those men do. I think the public doesn’t want to let her RIP. It’s like a having a guilty conscience and hoping that talking about it makes it better and somehow will bring her back. Basically, she is still selling newspapers and magazines 22 years after her death.
I don’t think H&W are wrong to blame the press. A lot of factors were at play that night and the press was one of them. I mean they even took pictures as she lay dying instead immediately seeking medical attention. I’ve said it before but I really hope he and Meghan are in therapy. I wasn’t alive in Diana’s hey-day so I can’t say if the level of hounding meghan gets is to her level but Meghan has to deal with a lot. I don’t know, I just hope she has an outlet to work through her emotions. She’s had HUGE life changes within the past 2 years that can be taxing on any average person but her is on the world stage while being abused/harassed in the media? I can’t help but worry about her mental health.
I was alive then. (I was at Burning Man when she died. I really thought it was just a fake rumour until I stopped at a gas station on my way home and saw it on the covers of the tabs. They only had sat phones out there back then!)
Diana was obsessively covered by the press. She was like Jackie O 2.0 back then. Mostly – from my perception – they seemed to love her. People in general seemed to love her. But, yes, she was a workhorse who made them money. Never forget that.
Meghan – IMHO – has it harder. She doesn’t seem to me to get quite as much attention, but she receives a LOT more criticism. That’s the racist thing.
Diana was photographed ONCE at her job as a preschool teacher while not wearing a slip. Before she married Charlie. That photog TOTES took advantage.
Kate only recently learned about skirt weights. I’m not going to cap on her for the topless pic, because it was supposed to be private. (Plus! What is so bad about boobs?! They’re just boobs! And we all have them!)
Meg has been flawless but she gets the harshest crit. I’m not here for that.
if I remember correctly, the press surrounded the car after the accident and photographed Diana essentially as she was dying. I believe those photos have been banned from publication? Even if they didn’t cause her death, that’s still callous and traumatizing, and Harry’s words hold up in that context.
Sadly in Italy the magazine Chi published those pics. I don’t even find the words to describe how much I was disgusted with this thing, I never bought that magazine again
I think you’ll find paparazzi photographers and royal reporters with their cameramen are not the same breed. Even in Hollywood there’s paparazzi, and the camera people who are requested at red carpets.
The despicable paparazzi who took photos of her while dying have a special place in hell made for themselves.
So do some of the wretched bullies that call themselves royal reporters + piers Morgan.
All of this speaks to the truly twisted relationships celebs (royals included) have with the press/public – without press attention, the royals would have a hard time convincing people they are worthy of our money and constant praise, but it can quickly become a catch-22.
It honestly sounds to me like Harry may need some time away from the spotlight to work through these feelings and decide, on his own, about what kind of future he wants for himself and his family.
Does William need to step away since he brings up Diana’s death too?
Stop being so defensive. Why can’t Harry and Meghan leave? Why? William is the future king. harry’s wife is being tormented by the racists and the media, and oh, the racist media. Maybe they should go to Canada, what would be so horrible?
@Guest, Just. Stop.
Harry and Meghan are talking directly about the difficult time they are having right now – they should prioritize their mental, emotional, and physical well-being over the BRF, esp since said family has not offered them much support.
Go away, @DaisySharp1 and spread your troll vitriol elsewhere.
What would be so horrible? People like you would never give it up. That’s what.
Also the OP here is totes Concern Trolling. I feel like an ass for getting sucked into responding to it.
@OriginalLala, since you think Harry needs to step away from the spotlight, how much time do you think the racist trolls and press will need to shape up their act? Maybe 10-20 years ought to do it? I’m sure that H&M can wait until Archie is college or maybe when he has his own kids to expect better treatment from the press and the @ssholes in the public (although I suspect they are one and the same),
I don’t know why you took what I said as criticism, it wasn’t.
Harry is clearly struggling right now (as is Meghan) with all the crap that’s been thrown at them. I don’t know what the answer is but being part oft his horrific family doesn’t seem to be a good thing for them.
I took your comment @Lala exactly as you meant it. And your suggestion that H&M find a rock to hide under instead of the press (and trolls) being held accoutable is so very helpful and thoughtful. Have a nice weekend!
I never said they should hide under a rock. Not.Once. I said that their mental, emotional, and physical well-being is more important than anything. The press should be held accountable, but their health is most important.
Honestly even when they are not in the spotlight they still get vilified, Meghan was MIA throughout her pregnancy but they still wrote disgusting articles about her. Why can’t the British press stop with their nastiness instead of them advocating that he needs mental health support.
I think Harry really needs to take it easy & take care of himself. The public breakdown on stage seems like a cry for help. A break from public life would certainly help. ❤️ goes out to him, sad!
This is a HUGE reach. Him getting emotional over being a father is a normal human emotion. And it’s silly to equate that with a “breakdown l”
Everybody has opinion. Don’t stop others from voicing theirs! There are so many comments here along the same lines. I didn’t say he was having a mental breakdown. He definitely needs help to sort out some issues.
It’s a garbage take and lays the responsibility for what is happening at Harry’s feet. And just because a few others agree doesn’t make it less so. And literally no one is stopping you from voicing your opinion. This is a comment thread. You can voice your opinion and others have the right to disagree.
H definitely needs help, way too young when he lost his mum to such a tragedy. I am not taking sides here, press needs to stay off & Give them space. Not everyone is anti-Sussex as you guys want to label here. Some of us are genuine & care about fellow human beings.
Oh I think Harry knows exactly what is going on. So do we. And it’s the trolls who need to take a break and get a life, not H&M.
@Rach, I hardly think tearing up on stage briefly before composing oneself counts as a breakdown. That is a bit much to describe it as such and his speech was heartfelt and well received. The press have amplified this couple way beyond the actual reality of who they actually are because they need a soap opera and distraction and scapegoats. They resent their drive and charisma, which extends beyond their rank, and not “ knowing their place”. Harry is just done with it and it is his responsibility to protect his family as he sees fit. I’m sure they’re dealing with their mental health privately, which is why they can talk about it somewhat now. I’m not interested in turning over every rock of their lives. Glad they are showing some agency while carrying on with their work. Hope this negativity is just a blip in a long journey and they take it together in stride, and continue to support each other. I admire and respect them both.
He didn’t seem to mind cameras in his wedding or in the lion king red carpet etc… He seems to be unraveling, maybe it’s time to stop being a working royal? But he would never give up the perks and neither would his wife.
Interesting…….So many people, quite desperate to see Meghan and Harry crawl away and go into hiding…..maybe that’s been the endgame all this time, of the racist, pitiless, bullies.
I say they need to stay put and stand their ground. No hiding away from the bullies anymore, sorry! 👍
How about the trolls going away or just maybe finding some humanity? You know there are lots of sports out there to follow and participate in besides human bashing.
He needs therapy to work out some issues: I don’t mean that harshly but he is really breaking down lately. Maybe “talk” isn’t enough. Lately he’s said “it’s hard to get out of bed”, now everytime he does work (cameras are there) he thinks about his mother’s death. There’s unresolved issues. But single men in the family never get followed solo as much as they do post- wedding, so the change in interest might seem so huge to him, but from the outside it’s not unexpected. For example, this was Harry’s 3rd time recreating Diana’s walk through mine fields but reported as if the first because Meghan and Archie are in the picture now. So he is seeing more camera clicks than before and it’s triggering.
I know that Will was able to take time off and go into the private sector. Would Harry be able to do that? It sounds like maybe a step back for him could be mentally healthy.
Oh boy some of these comments. Harry crying over his son at an awards show honoring kids who have health issues means hes having a break down. Him sticking up for his wife who got racism flung at her nonstop during he pregnancy means he needs to step away from the public eye.
I hope harry does step away from England and the royal family (even though i doubt it) let the uk and royal family use andrew the friend to the sex trafficker and William and Kate who do the bare minimum be the face of the family.
Yes people are acting like he’s having a nervous breakdown (which wouldn’t even unwarranted given all he’s been thru and having to watching his wife basically be slaughtered in the press) but I don’t think that’s what’s happening here. He seems to be speaking up, pushing back and not backing down and I don’t see the issue with that. To say “just go. Why don’t you just leave?” because he’s not putting up with the abuse from the press is absurd to me.
I think many just aren’t used to seeing men showing emotions so it’s interpreted as losing control instead of just venting. It shows that society in general has to learn there are different ways for men to emote.
@Nic919, Especially men in the British Royal Family.
Yeahhhh….this is called PTSD and it’s not really cool to say he needs to read the inquests. I have PTSD stemming from a public incident and I definitely can’t read any of it before I start having flashbacks and panic attacks. You can’t rationalize out of the lizard brain dread that overwhelms you and sucks you into catastrophizing. I get what he is saying 100%
EDIT: I feel like i need to elaborate seeing more of the comments. I’ve been in intensive therapy and on medication for 5 years, the incident was more than 10 years ago. Dealing with the anxiety and reactivity is a daily struggle. Some days you can be fine with an activity/noise/person and the next day the same exact thing will have you paralyzed with fight or flight.
Tl;dr PSTD, or CPTSD, aren’t things that go away. You can have therapy, you can work on it, but every time that trigger pops up, it’s going to do something.
Thank you for posting this. There are a lot of comments on this thread in regards to mental health that are the IMO uninformed and insensitive
It’s really infuriating some of the attitudes about this.
To be honest, I don’t think Diana wanted to live anonymously. I know she loved the very private heart surgeon, but I don’t think she would have ever truly wanted normalcy after being lavished with attention since the age of 19 as a princess. Yes, some of the attention was negative, but she also received a lot of praise for just being her (blonde, statuesque, beautiful, warm, empathetic,) and I’m sure that’s addictive for even the sanest person.
I also don’t think Diana was as fragile as everyone is making her sound (including her kids). She had a certain grit and strength to her. I think she was strategic and smart about what press exposure could do and some of her reactions to the press were normal reactions anyone would have. But that doesn’t necessarily mean I think she hated the press. On some level, I think she enjoyed the mythology surrounding her as much as the rest of us. We just didn’t see her live long enough to see how that enjoyment would play out.
It’s not really about Diana being “fragile”. It’s about what the relentlessness and cruelty of the paps did to them all after a time for all of those years. If you’ve ever heard what that paps say to get someone to turn around it would run your blood cold. They say anything-and after hearing just one exchange it changed my outlook on it forever. I can’t believe there isn’t a law against it.
She called the paparazzi often. If she had been called into a courtroom about it, she would have lost, because she was complicit. She leaked her entire story to Andrew Morton. She broadcast her whole live story on British tv. Whether this was because of loneliness or isolation in the royal family, I have no idea. I am sympathetic to Diana up to a point. But I also think we have to look at her in a more nuanced way. And I think she fed off the press as much as they fed off her. It wasn’t a one-way relationship.
She was a star from the start. And I do think her stardom happened organically. I don’t think she forced it. But at the same time she did also leak like nobody’s business. If you don’t want people snooping around you, it’s probably not a good idea to tell them where you are. That’s just common sense.
I think in her initial years she was “innocent” of what was happening. But once she became older I do think she was similar to other celebrities in terms of feeling a certain love affair with the press she couldn’t shake off.
That said, I also think, had she not been famous, she could have been a PR professional and been good at it. I do think she was much more highly adept at dealing with reporters and charming them than her sons are. They don’t have the smarts she or JFK Jr. had in terms of gettting a reporter on their side.
Do I also think Princess Diana or JFK Jr would have enjoyed life outside of the spotlight? No, I dont think so. And to be honest, I don’t think Harry or William would either. Once you have it, I don’t think you really want to lose it. You’re allowed to have complicated feelings about it and you’re allowed to not enjoy it at times, but I do think maybe nobody wants to acknowledge that maybe Diana would have been unhappier as an average person nobody paid attention to. She was unhappy as a princess, but I seriously think she would have been way unhappier as a complete nobody (she was an aristocrat, but that life sounds as boring as that of a royal. And she had no qualifications. Royalty was able to give her what most of us get from getting a degree and working. There’s no way she could have made an iota of difference even a regular person could if she had remained as an unqualified aristocratic who did not pass her O levels. Honstely, I think royalty was better for her. I think Meghan and Kate could have done something else even if they hadn’t married into royalty, but I’m not convinced Diana could have. So I think I’m looking at her life in a balanced way where she lost some things but gained others (just like the rest of us) ).
To further clarify, I do think there are certain things Diana shouldn’t have had to go through. She was allowed to have certain expectations of privacy (especially when she was 19 and was still quite innocent).
But I think her relationship with the press was highly complicated or she over time made it more complicated than it needed to be. I don’t think her relationship with the press was as uni-directional as the one Harry and William probably have with it (they’re not putting their entire life story on television or having books ghost-written about them). I don’t think Harry and William feed off the press the way Diana did, and so I think they view the press through their lens rather than the way Diana might have (that she saw the benefits in using back).
Diana and Meghan are nowhere near on the same scale.
You’re right. Because for all the negative press Diana got she never had to deal with racism.
Yes……which is why the press can’t seem to go 5 freaking seconds without reporting on her every move (truth or lies, who cares?). It’s also the reason why she’s come up as googles top search for the last 3 years since she came on the scene. It’s also why Politicians, Presidents, ex presidents, A-listers of every stripe, feel the need to name check her on a daily basis.
Those are the reasons, right?
Putting the snark aside, We had Diana in the public eye for circa 15 years before she died. Meghan is in her 3rd year. I would argue that as a result of the Internet, Meghan is *at least* where Diana was in her 3rd year in.
I think you are misinterpreting what he said. And I also think his own experiences with how the press treated his mother are valid. He has talked in the past at how the press would say vile things to his mother and at one point even SPIT at her. That’s not in his head. And I can imagine that a 12 year old boy witnessing and experiencing that would stay with them for life. Harry is not dumb. I am sure he knows the official cause of death and the circumstances surrounding it. He also knows that on that night his mother was in fact being chased and yes it DID play a part in the accident that followed. Was it the DIRECT cause of her death? No. But it was certainly a huge element of the events of that night. And I am sure that knowledge coupled with his OWN witnessing of how she was treated colors his view. How could it not? And how could he not see what the press has been doing to his wife and have it bring up all that trauma and pain again.
This exactly.
Well said, VV. As usual. I appreciate your comments here.
Gosh some of the comments are horrible. I really wonder how people go about their lives being so sour. It’s quite gross.
Harry and Meghan are obviously hurting, nobody can say they haven’t been under attack (though there are those that say they brought it on themselves. See above re: sour), but all I keep wondering is WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIS FAMILY? Even if you put aside the actual emotions of how a normal family would flock to take care of each other, this is terrible PR for their brand too. Unless they’re happy to let Harry and Meghan publicly experience their trauma in order to spare…Andrew??
This is MESSED UP.
I swear this thread has been take over by DM commenters.
@Valiantly Varnished, I personally think that many REAL (as in not bots) DM commenters and DL commenters have found their way to Celebitchy because they want to have real, intelligent and engaged discussion.
The “new” commenters are not in-line with the old timers but until Kaiser or CB tells them to get lost, we just have to put up with them or we can leave and go find another posting hole.
We are guest of Celebitchy not paid subscribers.
More public support has been shown for pedo Andy than Harry and Meghan. It is messed up that the rest are silent on this. Especially since many of them have their own dislike of the media.
Public support from the BRF, yes.
Public support from the commentariat, no.
From what I have read at the DM, the DM commentariat is just as disgusted as we CBers are.
Please, Harry and Meghan are the perfect scapegoats right now they’re not going to utter a WORD in defense of them. Not when the press is so focused on them they don’t bother with the rest of them. They’re probably enjoying the peace.
Dear Harry, Brexit is nigh upon us. Why don’t you try what your grandmother is doing? Being more sensitive to the British public in these troubled political times by being the solid guardian whose silent presence speaks volumes more than any PR spin can. On the verge of what is an historic political moment for our country that for certain will create incredible tumult, pardon us if we don’t really give a damn about your media concerns.
Amazingly, people can talk about their trauma and still be concerned for Brexit. It is possible to care about multiple things at once. If you don’t want to hear or read about his experiences and feelings, there are so many other places in the vastness of the internet where you can go – like the Daily Mail comments section. They’d love you there, assuming you’re not already a regular.
I’m guessing empathy isn’t very high on your list of priorities either?
If you’re so worried about Brexit, you probably shouldn’t have voted for it. Much like the Americans, the British are in a shithole that they dug themselves. Does torturing a pregnant woman make them feel better.
And if you don’t give a damn, why are you here?
I am just as fed up and worried about brexit like any normal Brit BUT I am human as are Harry and Meghan, you have to be cold hearted not to have empathy for them right now, they are hurting and hurting bad. Seeing Harry fight back tears at the Wellchild awards and seeing Meghan today broke my heart. Please stop being a cow. He shouldn’t act like his grandmother, who I can no longer stand what with her shielding her pedo son but doing nothing to help Meghan esp during her most vulnerable time, she is not what people should strive to be like.
And if you want to bring brexit into it; that whole debacle has a hand in this, it opened up a pandora’s box, the racism and hate that has come out because of it is astounding.
I saw a poll that said 54% of British citizens want Brexit. So maybe you should take issue with them? And for someone who doesn’t care about Harry’s media concerns why are you here commenting? As far as his grandmother being a solid guardian, wasn’t she the one who approved that canceling of Parliment or something or other?
I don’t really have any comment here because I know I cannot begin to grasp the amount of PTSD Harry must be battling.
I cant believe he (and william) were not given extensive grief counseling from a young age! He has got to have ptsd. I bet all the feelings have come up for him even more since becoming a father and husband. With all the resources of the royal family they could have had the best counseling! Wtf, Seriously, rich doesnt equal smart, emotionally intelligent or even emotionally competent, clearly. The Queen and his dad and step mom really dropped the ball in this big respect for him and William. Man.
I wonder about this too. Whether they got proper counselling after her traumatic death. Unfortunately, in the 90s, mental health awareness wasn’t that great, especially with regards to children.
My mother attempted suicide in 1993 when I was just 16 years old and both I and my sister was in the house when it happened. She had already been in the psychiatric system for 15 years – yet no one offered any kind of help/counselling for us and our father who was completely shell-shocked as well. She got her stomach pumped and was given active coal at the hospital before she was sent home. To this day I can’t remember whether she was sent home the same day or the day after. No follow-up what so ever – not even just on her and certainly not on her children.
There’s certainly much more awareness now. A few years ago a friend of my mother’s lost her son in a single car accident. It is a terrible loss – and she and her husband got comprehensive grief counselling from the local government right away – and I can see how much it helped them. I just wish that it had been an option for my family at the time.
That is really horrible. I think you’re right, we have come a long way in a short period of time when it comes to mental health, and understanding what constitutes trauma. And how it needs to be dealt with, that people especially teens and children need attention after traumatic events and losses. It is amazing no one would even think to get you counseling under those circumstances.
My guess is that grief counseling and therapy doesn’t fit with the BRF’s “keep calm and carry on” and “never complain or explain” MO. Really sad but I doubt that was seriously pushed for them especially at that time. Maybe why mental health has become such a championing cause for the both of them.
Yeah, to me it seems like they never really worked through a lot of the trauma that happens when you loose your mother at a very young age when they needed to the most. It wouldn’t surprise me if everyone just kind of swept it under the rug and didn’t talk about her again after the funeral. Which is maybe why they like to bring her up now in interviews and keep her memory alive.
Has a different royal blog shut down or something? Where are all the vile new commenters coming from?
Frankly, if you only have rotten, fantastical nonsense to convey about Duchess Meghan, perhaps another site is a better fit for you.
Royaldish shut down its harry and Meghan section.
Seriously. And frankly Im a little shocked and disappointed that so many of these comments are getting through.
A lot of these comments are from the same vile people who always get their digs in. Some of them are being “extra” today. Especially the concern trolls, my, my, my!! I’m sure karma can come through the internet though.
Part of healing from PTSD is having time and space away from triggers–things that are so similar to the traumatic even that they trigger the completely automatic flight/flight/freeze/dump-lots-of-adrenaline-and-cortisol-into-the-body response. H and W have never gotten that time and space, at least not from the media triggers.
I sense something iminent about to happen …
Whew, some of these comments on here are triggering me! Maybe some people are feeling a guilty conscience. I guess it’s hard to feel sorry for someone in pain after you’ve given them a kick in the shin. I mean that was the whole point, right?
I tend to agree with others that he should get therapy. There is something unresolved there. I don’t think he’s wrong to voice his complaints to the press but I also think maybe he should deal with what is happening to him emotionally head-on. It doesn’t have to be an either/or. He can do both.
I don’t know what to say. They’re going through something, that’s for sure. Only they know what it is. But I’ve not seen a royal this emotional before. It is a little concerning, I think.
They’ve been hounded nonstop by the racist press without any kind of clear support from the RF. Of course they’re emotional. They’re not robots. What’s concerning is that they have to continue to take the abuse, not how they choose to express their emotions.
I’m not saying how he should be emotionally.
Beyond that. er, yeah, whatevs. It’s his life — doesn’t affect mine in any way. Carry on, Harry. You do you. I thought about him for 10 minutes today because of this post and now I feel maybe it really wasn’t worth my time. I think I’ll just go back to thinking about Mark Zuckerberg and his weird speech at Georgetown. That’s probably time and worry better spent on my end.
“Only they know what it is”? Bwahahahahaha! That has got to be the joke comment of the day (so far). Go back and read Harry’s statement he made when the lawsuit was filed. I think that should make things much clearer for you.
Yeah, he filed his lawsuit. However, he brought up his mother in this instance about a click of the camera being a constant reminder. However, the statute has passed on what he can do for his mother. The lawsuit deals with his wife. Two separate issues.
Harry did get therapy and confirmed that in an interview. There is nothing that he said in the brief clip or during the recent speech that is close to being considered a breakdown. He was talking about his feelings and that seems to be an issue for a lot of people here.
Honestly, I’m surprised paps have a job after that. I guess it’s impossible to enforce a ban, but I thought things would change, but no, we still got TMZ.
You can’t enforce a ban if celebrities are calling them up. A ban can only work if both sides stop using each other.
That’s the baffling part.
To me, the press DID have a hand in it because her fear of them forced her to make not-great decisions. She wasn’t supposed to use that driver that night and she was supposed to be going somewhere else but in an attempt to elude the press, she and Fayed made snap decisions that ended her life. Had she been able to think clearly or not be forced to make decisions to protect her privacy, she may be alive. So I do think you can put a fair amount of blame on the paparazzi.
Aside from that, he may not even be talking specifically about her death so much as how the press plagued her in her final years and how she was generally unhappy because of it. They watched her suffering from the attention prior to her death. So he may addressing just her standard of living, not just her death.
I think some of the bad decisions were made by Dodi Fayed. He and his dad hired that driver. I always assumed that’s why Mohammed Al Fayed tried to deflect blame to the royal family. Had she been under Royal Protection, it’s likely the accident wouldn’t have happened.
I think the paparazzi are to blame up to a point. There’s obviously no need to be speeding, etc. But I also think Dodi and his dad bear some responsibility as well. Dodi didn’t know how to deal with a situation like that, and I think his father has a hard time accepting how they failed to protect her adequately. She probably would have been better off with the heart surgeon.
The demand for Princess Diana’s images contributed to the circumstances that caused her death.
There was an inquest and it was decided that the press will operate in a certain way and as the Wales matured the were always negotiations to establish the proper boundaries in terms of coverage. This was followed in every respect with Prince William and Prince Harry (to a lesser extent) until he fell in love with his wife.
She was treated as their commodity.
Not anymore.
Unacceptable behaviour.
I applaud Harry and Meghan for ignoring the ‘royal fishbowl’ myth that royals should act their roles 24/7 and suppress being human/vulnerable. From true humanitarians like H&M I expect them to address the huge problems that mankind is currently facing. Including bullying which is a global problem. It is excellent that they use their own genuine experience to highlight this theme on their successful themebased tour. As spectators of the constant press bullying against them, most of us naturally feel compassion for them. Royals are human and should not be put on a pedestal. They are not saints. Even the Queen is vulnerable behind her pokerface, as we recently saw when Boris Johnson pulled her puppetstrings twice.
My biggest worry is that they will leave each other for the others benefit. Ive seen it in interracial couples. The stress becomes too much that they reckon the other will be better off without them as the scrutiny and hate will reduce. Infact, forgotten all together. I hope they dont. But it does worry me. Harry doesnt want her to suffer. Meg doesnt want him to suffer because of her. Luckily, they have a child and i hope that gives them the strength to fight on. Also, as many have mentioned, the press probably wouldve done this to any of Harrys exes, had he married them, without the racism angle. I guess anyone Harry wouldve married wouldve been seen as Kates competition. Its always women being pitted against each other. Which is what makes Will and Kates silence so annoying.
Being an interracial couple is part of the Sussex brand and millions of fans adore this inspirational couple. So it is a great asset. The problem is not their relationship, but the harassment by the British press. People are unaware that the billionaire backed far right British press has a hidden agenda for years to destabilize British society and it’s institutions, including the monarchy. My conspiracy theory is that the royal family is in a survival mode and that the heirs closed the ranks, leaving H&M out. In that scenario H&M are scapegoats that the royal family was willing to offer to the press as free game to protect the crown. Now H&M have to defend themselves with help of the public. Hence their recent strategy. Given the humiliating way Boris Johnson has dragged the Queen into the political Brexit drama with lies and the following calls for the abolishment of the monarchy (as the country is falling further apart), I would not be surprised if the royal family is considering an exit strategy with their courtiers behind closed doors to prepare for the post Brexit reality.