For months while Princess Charlene was in South Africa, I often questioned whether the “ENT infection” was merely a cover story. As the months went on and Charlene continued to have operations and continued to post photos where she looked visibly ill, my conspiracies kind of died down. I believe she was very sick and is possibly still struggling with some significant physical ailment. Albert spoke bluntly about what this is NOT: it’s not cancer, it’s not Covid, it’s not an impending divorce, it’s not plastic surgery. Albert did tell People that Charlene had lost a lot of weight, which was clear even though she’s been masking her body in baggy clothes and layers for a while. Now sources tell Page Six that Charlene hasn’t eaten solid foods in months and Charlene’s current stay in a treatment facility is mostly about the extreme weight loss from her medical drama.
Princess Charlene of Monaco “almost died” in South Africa after undergoing multiple surgeries and losing a worrying amount of weight, sources exclusively told Page Six.
Friends are concerned that the Monaco royal family has been underplaying the seriousness of her condition after Prince Albert gave an interview last week claiming she had gone into rehab upon her return to the principality.
“It is unfair that she is being portrayed as having some kind of mental or emotional issue,” one source said. “We don’t know why the palace is downplaying that she almost died in South Africa.”
The source noted that Princess Charlene, 43, had a severe ear, nose and throat infection, which resulted in “severe sinus and swallowing issues stemming back from an earlier surgery.”
“She has not been able to eat solid food in over six months because of all the surgeries she has since gone through,” the source said. “She has only been able to take in liquids through a straw, so she lost nearly half her body weight.”
According to our source, Princess Charlene is “definitely not losing her mind, or suffering from severe mental health issues. She is exhausted by six months of surgeries and an inability to eat properly as a result of it. And she desperately missed her children and her husband while she was stuck in South Africa, because she couldn’t travel home.”
“She lost nearly half her body weight” – holy sh-t. Well, if she was taken to a treatment facility to genuinely recover from her medical ordeal, surely Albert should have just said that plainly? Like, I get the “medical privacy” argument, but his squirreliness about it has led people to accuse him of banishing his wife from Monaco and gaslighting her about her mental health or whatever. And clearly, if she hasn’t been able to eat solid food and she’s lost half of her body weight, that would also lead to significant mental health issues too. What a complete sh-t show this is. I hope Charlene is at a real medical treatment facility capable of helping her.
Photos courtesy of Instagram, Backgrid.
I don’t believe ANYTHING regarding this except that she’s alive & back in the Royal House & I’ve had THAT stance since BEFORE they were married….
What I find AMAZING is that Albert choose a woman who OBVIOUSLY dosen’t want to embrace royal life & has shown that ad naseum…I ain’t looking at HER…I’m looking at HIM!
Totally agree. I mean I get that he’s not the catch he was when he was younger, but surely there are still millions of pretty gold diggers out there who’d be willing to play the game? Why Charlotte? I mean I can ALMOST understand dragging her back for the wedding since it was like the day before when she tried to run, but then get a quiet divorce and find a willing partner. Why impregnate a woman who so desperately didn’t want to be there???
I think at that point he was desperate to have a legitimate heir. His father Rainier died in 2005 and at that point Albert had no legitimate heirs apart from two kids out of wedlock and he had never been married. Before he died, Rainier made a point to pass a law declaring illegitimate heirs could never be legitimized until the heir married the parent of the illegitimate children. I always found that so hypocritical of Rainier because his own mother Princess Charlotte was the illegitimate daughter of Prince Louis, Rainier’s grandfather (and Albert’s great-grandfather). You can read all about Princess Charlotte and how she became legitimized here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Charlotte,_Duchess_of_Valentinois. So if Charlotte had never been legitimized, Rainier wouldn’t exist or ever been the ruler of Monaco but he clearly didn’t see it that way.
Albert spent most of his youth fooling around being a playboy/party prince, probably thinking he had all the time in the world to settle down and have kids. People give the party label to Harry when he was young, but I think Albert slept with half of Europe’s female population in his youth. In 2005 he was 47 or 48, most of his good looks were gone (look up Prince Albert as a young bachelor, he was very good looking), he was balding, and my guess is no woman in Monaco/Europe around his age wanted to deal with him, let alone marry him. Albert knew he had to convince the next woman to stick around and marry him so he picked a much younger woman, a 28 year old swimmer from South Africa with no ties to Europe/Monaco. I’m not saying Charlene was impressionable, at 28 years old you should have some life skills, but I guess Albert dazzled her somehow because she stuck around. Until she supposedly tried to escape before the wedding… and had that happened, Albert probably knew NO ONE would ever marry him or give him legitimate heirs. That’s my theory!
@ AmelieOriginal, Charlene tried to escape twice!! Not supposedly, she actively tried twice. The second time she was in Paris before the wedding and wanted to call it off. Instead, he sent his goons to Paris, they forcibly kidnapped her against her will, he took possession of her passport and she has been under his thumb ever since. There were factual articles written about when she tried to leave the second time and the Paris officials allowed him to take her against her will. Yes, they dated for a time period and he proposed but she had second thoughts. Albert was NOT going to allow her to leave him, especially publicly, and make him out to be a fool. Albert has also stipulated that should there be a divorce, he has automatic primary custody over any children that could occur during the marriage, as they are heirs to the Monarchy. Charlene was shafted and betrayed by Paris officials for allowing his goons to take her out of the country against her will. That is why she was so heartbroken during the wedding, as she changed her mind but she was stuck. How would any commoner be able to force a man of his position to plea her case and have anyone come to her defense? No one would. That’s why I hold Paris responsible for her forced kidnapping. Now they have 2 children and unless she wants to hand over full control of their lives, she must stay married to him. It’s an extremely unhappy life for her. Albert was able to suppress his true ugliness until the weeks leading up to the wedding. Here in Charlene now, stuck with a philandering husband that does NOT care about her or her happiness. Albert cares about control and power over her. I feel terrible for Charlene as any parent would. Would you leave your horrible husband to be at his mercy as to her contact with their children? I wouldn’t but he has all of the power and she has none.
I hope that Charlene recovers well and I don’t buy this intervention crap. Charlene is an athlete and she knows how important it is to care for her body. Unfortunately, she has become struck down by debilitating illnesses and multiple surgeries, all while being away from her children. And Alberts comments to the press are all in his benefit, not hers. Telling everyone that they held an intervention, it’s not due to plastic surgery or marital issues and it’s solely for her health. But instead of telling people it was due to her ongoing illnesses and surgeries, he spins his comments that speculate anything but the truth. Albert is looking out for Albert. As he makes these public comments about Charlenes health, he is able to establish the questionable reasons related to the prompt travel, ie an intervention to make her look unstable. Albert spent years, and still does, whoring around Europe and beyond, but Charlene is and has been unhappy and she is stuck. Albert has narcissistic tendencies and must remain as the strong one of the two who is not the reasons for her unhappiness.
This is not a clear cut health issue, obviously. There is a lot going on and I too agree if it were simply her recovery and weight loss, he should have said so plainly. Why muddy the water to add speculation when you are trying to dispel the speculations? THAT does not make sense.
There is a whole lot going on here. I really hope her family is also helping her recover. I don’t trust the RF to be vested in anything but their own interests.
I mean, extreme weight loss is a hallmark of a severe infection, and is also linked to increased mortality, so this is plausible.
My guess is she had a feeding tube while she was in SA and needed to return to a medical facility because she still can’t eat properly.
or she has a bad case of anorexia, and Mac has a good point about the feeding tube.
Losing that much weight is so dangerous. She could basically go into cardiac arrest at any time. She risks multiple organ failure. I’ve seen people suffering from late stage anorexia and it’s brutal. Reading between the lines, it seems that she has mental and physiological issues. If it was just complications from surgery, why would she need a family intervention?
I hope she’s getting the help she needs, and that she’s able to find peace. If royal life doesn’t suit her, I hope she can leave it with minimal complication. It isn’t worth her life. Her life is worth so much more than some lame HSH title.
I’ve thought all along that the took her passport and exiled her, in order to keep her in line, after the news broke of his most recent affair. And I think she stopped eating while there in retaliation, and as a way to regain some control of the situation.
I wish Charlene a good and safe recovery. It’s hard enough to recover from long term illnesses but it’s even worse when you’ve got a media spotlight on you (and yes I am aware that I’m contributing to said media spotlight by commenting on these articles).
Thank you Sofia. I, too, wish Charlene a good and safe recovery.
Everything can play into each other. Extreme weight loss can be a side effect of mental illness and physical illness can cause mental unwellness (I know, not a real word).
I’ve struggled with depression in the past and as a result have stopped eating, causing rapid weight loss. As a result of not eating it made the depression worse. It’s a vicious cycle.
I think there are multiple things going on with Charlene but yeah, Albert is being extra weird about it all.
@Sue, you summed it up much better than I tried to do so above. Thank you. And when one adds to the pressures of royal life, the mistresses, the family dynamic and all the other minutia – yeah it’s multi layered would be an understatement.
All the more reason I am sure Harry is even more solid in his decision to leave the BaRF.
Poor Charlene.
One thing baffels me the most about all this. Wasn’t it easier to let Charlene go when she didn’t want to get married rather than go through all of this now?
It was said that they didn’t let Charlene lave the country before her wedding because it would be a scandal. So a whole life full of constant headlines about how unhappy she is and now this. Scandal after scandal, so many lies, deceiving, manipulation of the media… I wonder was it worth it?
If they just let Charlene go to live her life, Albert would soon find a willing suitable wife, I’m sure. And all of this would be avoided. Royals for all their traditions, can be very shortsighted sometimes
It’s all worth it to get one legitimate male heir, though….
I still think Albert is an idiot for NEVER using a condom, especially when he’s one of the few people in the world for whom it’s an issue to have illegitimate children. Especially knocking up #3 while dating Charlene.
Bless her and may she regain her health.
I feel for her. I am close to 6ft like her and I got sick for 6 years. I lost 15 pounds and was already slim to start with. I had someone who had not seen me in years walk up to me and say what happened to you (point to my face) and say you look gaunt and awful.
My issue was missed hypothyroidism. I had Hashimotos as a kid and they kept telling me I no longer needed synthroid when I was 17. It turns my body needed thyroid support but my traditional PCP and in-network specialists were not current enough on research. I had to pay out of network to get matched w a physican who did the detective work to figure out what was going on – thyroid issues, hormone issues, endo, pcos.
The anxiety I got from not feeling well and bouncing from Dr to Dr! I have no trust for doctors . Ladies be an advocate for yourself!!!!! Woman stuff falls through cracks. Praying for Charlene.
Glad you finally got that squared away. My mom, three sisters, and I all have Hashimoto’s. So we’ve collectively been treated by a lot of endocrinologists as well as general practitioners. And a lot of GPs think it’s super easy to treat just based on your TSH level. They aren’t aware how differently it can present in people. Although hypothyroidism is typically associated with weight gain, one of my sisters was also really thin. And one yo-yod back and forth on weight. Or sometimes just plain ignorant, like the time I needed to explain to the doctor that going off the Pill really was going to affect my dosage.
This story has to why she has lost so much weight since she couldn’t eat solid foods while she recovered from her multiple surgeries makes sense, but who really knows at this point. She could have an ED, she could have thyroid issues, she could have gastro issues, it could be major depression (I lost a ton of weight during a very bad depressive episode about a decade ago), it could be so many things.
My own sister is really thin, she is lactose intolerant, has Celiac’s along with SIBO, IBS etc. Due to all her digestive issues, she doesn’t eat a lot because she experiences so much discomfort. She’s seen plenty of doctors to figure out why this is all happening, but every doctor has a different opinion. Because she doesn’t eat a lot, she is self-conscious about her weight and how thin she appears because her friends do remark on it. She wears baggy clothes to hide it because she doesn’t have an eating disorder, it’s out of her control. At this point, I won’t speculate. I just hope Charlene gets the help she needs and is able to recover away from Monaco’s prying eyes.
If you have sinus reconstruction surgery, you absolutely CANNOT drink from a straw. Typically for like, 3 to 6 months. You’re also advised not to fly in that time as well, which I remember initial reports said she flew to SA immediately after sinus surgery in Europe.
Most of what’s been reported about Charlene is consistent with sinus surgery, but these two things—the straw and the initial timeline—are sus. I used to work in oral surgery and we’d occasionally get close to a sinus membrane when removing upper molars. I remember only 1, maybe 2 membrane tears. We did a lot of bone grafts, especially if a patient wanted to eventually get an implant tooth replacement. Healing takes 6-12 months for this.
Anyway! There’s a lot we don’t know but it’s fun to speculate.
I went through something similar to what her friends are discussing. I started suffering from gastritis a year ago. It made it very uncomfortable to eat food, so I slowly started to drop weight. Then one day this summer I became violently ill, I was throwing up for about a week and I didn’t eat anything either. After that was over I still couldn’t eat. I thought I was still getting over the illness, but then things took a turn for the worse. My stomach ballooned up and I physically couldn’t eat. It presented itself like anorexia/ bulimia. Every time I managed to get something down, up it came. I went to my GI doc and he brushed me off, so I went to my primary doc and she ordered testing. Turns out I have a rare and potentially deadly condition called SMA. Which is caused by severe weight loss. I have a feeding tube in now, so I can put back on the weight or I’ll need surgery to fix the condition. I wasn’t suffering from any mental illness, like depression. It’s a freak thing that can happen.
I hope that’s all Charlene is suffering from, because if her weight loss is tied to something like depression then that’s a long, hard road to getting better.
I’m so glad you’re feeling better!
Thanks!!
My aunt had a fungal infection in her sinuses and went through something similar. Couldn’t eat, lost a ton of weight, it was pretty awful. The strong anti-fungal meds were almost worse than the infection, they messed her body up for years.
I do not think the whole story is being told here, this is more than just losing weight from an ENT infection, imo.
I’ll just put it out there: Poison?
Seems like an eating disorder. That would fit with the trauma that so obviously shows on her face. He’s defo got something to do with it, that man is so shady, like a whole tree of shadiness.
Can’t her siblings do something to help her or have they been bought off by baldy?