Prince Harry has revealed the three occasions in his life where he felt “completely helpless” during a podcast interview.
The Duke of Sussex spoke candidly about his mental health and seeking therapy after he had an eye-opening conversation with his wife Meghan.
He told actor Dax Shepard, host of the Armchair Expert podcast, that he used to repress his anger at being constrained as part of the royal family and the inescapable media scrutiny, which he compared to “living in a zoo”.
He described the moment he realised he needed therapy, saying: “It was a conversation that I had with my now wife, and she saw, she saw it straight away.
“She could tell that I was hurting and that some of the stuff that was out of control was making me really angry and it would make my blood boil.”
He continued: “Helplessness, that is my biggest Achilles heel.
“There were three major times that I felt completely helpless, one when I was a kid in the back of a car with my mum being chased by paparazzi, two was in Afghanistan in an apache helicopter, and then the third one was with my wife.”
Harry, who stepped down as a senior royal with Meghan last year, and moved to California, said that going to therapy changed his perspective on things as “the bubble was burst”.
“I plucked my head out of the sand and gave it a good shake off and I was like, you’re in this position of privilege, stop complaining and stop thinking you want something different - make this different - because you can’t get out.
“How are you going to do these things differently, how are you going to make your mum proud and use this platform to really affect change.”
Harry’s interview with Mr Shepard comes two months after the Sussexes sat down for an explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The duke also has an Apple TV Plus docuseries with Ms Winfrey, titled The Me You Can’t See, set to premiere on 21 May. In the series, the Duke and Ms Winfrey discuss mental health and emotional well-being with a range of people from across the globe.
Elaborating on the series, he said: “One of the main reasons of the series is to have these honest conversations with people around the world who have suffered and are continuing to suffer, it’s about stripping away our backgrounds and the privilege.”
If you are experiencing feelings of distress and isolation, or are struggling to cope, The Samaritans offers support; you can speak to someone for free over the phone, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.
