Did Princess Diana Have A Eating Disorder: Diana Frances Spencer, Princess of Wales, was a member of the British royal family who lived from 1 July 1961 until 31 August 1997. Princes William and Harry’s mother was King Charles III’s first wife and the Prince of Wales at the time. She gained enduring popularity and virtually unparalleled public scrutiny thanks to her activism and glamour, making her an international legend.
Did Princess Diana Have A Eating Disorder?
The Crown openly discusses Diana’s battle with bulimia, just as Diana did years later in a candid biography by Andrew Morton published in 1992. Diana smuggled cassettes to Morton while residing in the palace and sent them through a middleman. Her open interviews, in which she discussed issues like depression and rearing royals, broke with court tradition and garnered media attention. Diana earned the title of “People’s Princess” due to her honesty on taboo topics and her high popularity level.
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Diana originally opened up about her experience with an eating disorder in her book Diana: Her True Story—In Her Own Words. The book is frank in describing Diana’s effects caused by two forces: an unhappy marriage and high pressure in the palace. Several times, including when she was three months pregnant with William, she allegedly attempted suicide (The Crown skips that incident). Charles believed that she was fabricating her problems, according to Morton.
Morton focuses mainly on the period that The Crown’s ironically titled “Fairytale” episode, which shows Diana struggling to transition from kindergarten teacher to princess-in-training, is set during. Diana claims that this was the start of her ten-year battle with bulimia.
Despite coming from an aristocratic background, the young kindergarten teacher felt wholly lost amid the respectful formality of Buckingham Palace. In those three months, as well as the ones that followed, there were many tears shed. Her waist shrunk from 29 inches when the engagement was announced to 23 inches on the day of her wedding due to simple weight loss. Her bulimia nervosa, which would take almost ten years to recover, started at this tumultuous time, according to Morton.
Prince Charles allegedly made weight-related remarks about Diana after their 1981 wedding, which made Diana feel more insecure. My husband said, “Oh, a little pudgy here, aren’t we?” while placing his palm on my waistline. And that set up a reaction in me. And the Camilla thing,” Diana referred to Charles’s alleged and ongoing liaison with Camilla Shand in the book. Charles wore interwoven “C” cufflinks that Camilla gave him while they were on their honeymoon and frequently chatted to her on the phone.
The princess claimed that although Diana’s bulimia was unknown to the outside public, everyone in the palace knew her difficulties. Everyone in the family was aware of the bulimia, and everyone blamed it for the breakdown of the marriage, according to the woman.
Diana continues to be honest about her mental health after the book’s release. Diana referred to her bulimia as a “symptom of what was going on in my marriage” in a 1995 interview with the BBC, which she gave after the couple’s divorce. “I didn’t like myself, and I was ashamed that I couldn’t handle the pressures,” she continued. I had bulimia for while, which is a hidden illness. It’s a cycle that you keep repeating that is highly harmful to you.
Diana was not the only member of her family to experience difficulties, despite being quite outspoken about them. Lady Sarah, Diana’s elder sister, reportedly also battled an eating condition. She was battling anorexia when she briefly dated Prince Charles in the late 1970s. Prince Charles allegedly asked Sarah directly if she had the disease, according to the book Diana: Finally, the Complete Story.
Diana took lessons from what her sister went through after witnessing it. Years later, Diana revealed to clients at the Priory, a private rehab center for addicts outside of London, that she first experienced bulimia symptoms in the middle of the 1970s, relating it to Sarah’s experience: “It began because I idolized Sarah, who was anorexic, and wanted to be like her,” Diana, according to Sarah Bradford, is finally the whole story.
When Did Princess Diana Overcome Her Eating Disorder?
Princess Diana overcame the illness after a ten-year battle. Regular exercise was beneficial, but according to Jenni Rivett, her trainer, the condition significantly improved following her divorce from Charles. She was aware that she would feel wonderful following each session. According to Rivett, it would enable her to become a better version of herself, increase her sense of empowerment, and put the eating disorder behind her.
Prince William and Prince Harry, Diana’s kids, now carry on their mother’s tradition of openly discussing their mental health concerns. Harry, in particular, has discussed the lifelong effects of the untimely passing of his mother in 1997. In 2017, he said, “William pushed me to seek treatment. I have probably come very near to a full breakdown on multiple occasions when all sorts of grief and sort of lies and misinformation and everything are coming at you from every angle.”
William and Harry also take advantage of their status to promote the need for assistance for others. Prince Harry collaborated with the British military to develop an online network of information to assist troops in dealing with mental health issues in 2020. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry established the “Heads Together” mental health project in 2016. Also, Harry and Oprah are working together on an Apple TV show about mental health.
The princes are conscious of their mother’s legacy. For the first time, William discussed Diana’s bulimia in a 2017 Channel Four documentary Wasting Away: The Truth About Anorexia. He expressed his “proudness” at his mother’s honesty, saying, “These are illnesses. Physical and mental health should be treated carefully.
Diana’s battle with bulimia is depicted in The Crown, but she previously shared these information years earlier.
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