Prince Harry addresses mental health problems and confronts the Royal Family on his new show with Oprah
Prince Harry claimed that the Royal Family feels “shame” when facing mental health issues and is “incredibly good at covering it up.”
- The Duke of Sussex said the Royal Family feels ashamed when confronted about mental health struggles, but they are “incredibly good at covering it up,” on his new Apple TV+ show, where he works together with Oprah Winfrey.
- Oprah revealed that she and Harry were planning the show BEFORE Megxit, back in 2019.
- “The Me You Can’t See” focuses on mental wellness, as celebrities open up about their personal experience with mental health issues.
During a bonus episode on his Apple TV+ show, the Duke of Sussex said he had “learned” that relatives are usually ashamed of mental health problems and prefer to cover them up instead of facing them, Daily Mail reports.
In the sixth episode of “The Me You Can’t See,” Prince Harry shared his own experience with the way his family deals with suchlike emotional struggles. Speaking to actress Glenn Close, the 36-year-old Duke said:
“As parents, as siblings, certainly from what I’ve learned – there’s an element of shame we feel, because we’re like, ‘How could we not have seen it?’ How did we not know? How did you not feel comfortable enough to come to me and share that with me?’ But we all know when people are suffering, and people are struggling, that we’re all incredibly good at covering it up for those that know that we’re covering it up.”
However, one of the most shocking revelations remains the fact that Prince Harry and Oprah started planning the show BEFORE Megxit.
The Duke and the talk show giant Oprah Winfrey revealed they have been planning their Apple TV+ project since 2019, before Harry and Meghan stepped out from the Royal Family in January 2020. Oprah announced:
“It’s a project that we were inspired to produce after we first met, really, and talked about some of the most pressing issues of our time. So we spent two years making this series…together.”
“The Me You Can’t See” focuses on mental wellness, as well as mental health issues. Some of the guest stars of the show are the pop star Lady Gaga and the iconic actress Glenn Close, who share distressing moments of their personal lives. While Gaga opened up about her serious mental health struggles after she was raped as a teenager, Close spoke about the impact of Covid-19 on her wellbeing and her sister’s suicidal confession.
Throughout the program, Prince Harry addresses traumatic memories of his childhood, including his mother’s death, his history with drug and alcohol abuse, and his decision to leave Buckingham Palace. He also opened up about the time when his wife, Meghan Markle, told him she was having suicidal thoughts, as she was six months pregnant with Archie.
The Duke emphasized the importance of talking openly about suicide and self-harm.
Prince Harry said:
“I think it’s so interesting because so many people are afraid of being on the receiving end of that conversation (about suicide) because they don’t feel as though they have the right tools to be able to give the right advice but what you’re saying is you’re there.
Listen, because listening and being part of that conversation is, without a doubt, the best first step that you can take.”
In the last episode, both Harry and Oprah agreed that the best piece of advice in these sensitive situations is to tell the suicidal person they are “not alone” in their battle. The Duke added that when Meghan first told him she wanted to kill herself, he pretended “everything’s okay” because of how “the system” deals with mental health problems.
“I’m somewhat ashamed of the way that I dealt with it. And of course, because of the system that we were in and the responsibilities and the duties that we had, we had a quick cuddle, and then we had to get changed to jump in a convoy with a police escort and drive to the Royal Albert Hall for a charity event. Then step out into a wall of cameras and pretend as though everything’s okay.”
Furthermore, he spoke with Zak Williams about the pain of losing a parent who was in the public eye. The incredible actor Robin Williams, Zak’s father, died by suicide in 2014. His son shared:
“From my end, it was really hard to separate initially the process of privately grieving versus sharing the grieving with the general public. I really didn’t get a chance to really focus on the private grieving process until a year and a half after my dad passed away.”
Prince Harry, whose mother, Princess Diana, died when he was little, said:
“I think we have a lot of shared experience when you talk about that … when you see so many people around the world grieving for someone they feel as though they knew them better than you did in a weird way because you’re unable to grieve yourself.”
According to the prince, mental health and climate change were “two of the most pressing issues” we are facing today.
The Duke of Sussex confessed he believes that it was “pretty depressing” that children are being raised in a world where their home is “either on fire or underwater.” Speaking to Oprah, he said:
“With kids growing up in today’s world, pretty depressing, right, depending on where you live, your home country is either on fire, it’s either underwater, houses or forests are being flattened. Climate change is really playing a huge part in this as well as social media.”
Stressing that these issues are constantly growing, Harry added:
“Are we supposed to accept that these problems are just going to grow and grow and grow, and then we’re going to have to adapt to them and build the resilience amongst the next generation and the next generation and the next generation?
Or is there really a moment, a reckoning moment, post-Covid, where we can actually look at each other, look at ourselves and go ‘we need to do better about stopping or allowing the things that are causing so much harm to so many of us at the source, rather than being distracted by the symptom’.”