Trigger warning: This story touches on topics concerning mental health and suicide. If you, or someone you know, would like to have a free, confidential chat with someone they can trust, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit their website here.
Prince Harry and Oprah Winfrey have today released their new docuseries, The Me You Can’t See.
The eye-opening project delves into the real lives of people, both famous and everyday alike, and their struggles with mental health.
Helming the incredible series is Harry himself, who has opened up about his struggles and trauma from his teens to his thirties – and what ultimately pulled him through to another side.
Speaking in the documentary released today on Apple TV+, Harry tells Oprah in a sit-down chat that it was his wife Duchess Meghan that truly marked the beginning of his road to recovery.
Harry, who was previously known as the “bad boy” and partier throughout his young adult years, was going through his own desperate struggles.
When he met Meghan aged 32, he revealed he didn’t even know he still harboured some of those troubled tendencies.
“I saw GPs. I saw doctors. I saw therapists. I saw alternative therapists. I saw all sorts of people, but it was meeting and being with Meghan,” he told Oprah.
“I knew that if I didn’t do the therapy and fix myself that I was going to lose this woman who I could see spending the rest of my life with.”
He explained that it was at the peak of an argument with Meghan that made Harry truly realise what he needed to do.
“When she said, ‘I think you need to see someone,’ it was in reaction to an argument that we had. And in that argument, not knowing about it, I reverted back to 12-year-old Harry,” he explained of the tender age he was his mother tragically passed away.
“The moment I started therapy, it was probably within my second session, my therapist turned around to me and said, ‘That sounds like you’re reverting to 12-year-old Harry.'”
In further heartbreaking detail, Harry explained how his childhood trauma in losing his mother, Princess Diana and living through the unfathomable reality of having his life splashed across every tabloid had a profound impact on him.
His therapist told him: “You never processed it. You were never allowed to talk about it and all of a sudden now it’s coming up in different ways as projection.”
The Prince added: “That was the start of a learning journey for me. I became aware that I’d been living in a bubble within this family, within this institution and I was sort of almost trapped in a thought process or a mindset.”
The soon to be father-of-two also brought up his devastation in the way he and his family dealt with Duchess Meghan’s mental health struggles.
Earlier this year, the Duchess revealed in her own explosive Oprah interview that she had experienced suicidal thoughts while six months pregnant with their first son, Archie.
She detailed one particular night at the Royal Albert Hall where she had expressed her concerns for her life to Harry before attending a public event.
Speaking of the moment, Harry explained in his new documentary: “I’m somewhat ashamed of the way that I dealt with it… When my wife and I were in those chairs gripping each other’s hand the moment the lights go down, Meghan starts crying, I’m feeling sorry for her but I’m also really angry with myself that we’re stuck in this situation.”
He continued: “I was ashamed that it got this bad. I was ashamed to go to my family because to be honest with youm like a lot of other people my age could probably relate to, I know that I’m not going to get from my family what I need.”
In his emotional interview, Harry also explained how he had looked to the strength of his mother, Princess Diana, when dealing with his issues.
“Towards my late 20s I was starting to ask questions of, ‘Should I really be here?’ and that was when I suddenly started going, ‘You can’t keep hiding from this.’ Family members have said, ‘Just play the game and your life will be easier’,” he said.
“But I’ve got a hell of a lot of my mum in me. I feel as though I’m outside of the system, but I’m still stuck there. The only way to free yourself and break out is to tell the truth.”