Trigger warning: This story touches on topics concerning mental health. 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 has teamed up with his good friend Oprah Winfrey for an all-new mental-health series called The Me You Can’t See which dropped on Friday 21st May.
Like his last sit-down with the TV icon, the Duke has shown his vulnerable side. This time, he’s bared all regarding his battle with drugs and alcohol.
WATCH: The first trailer for Prince Harry’s new mental health documentary
Candidly speaking with Oprah, his co-producer of the documentary, Harry revealed that the most harrowing time of his life was when he was around 28 to 32, explaining he suffered from severe anxiety and panic attacks which caused him to turn to alcohol as a crutch.
“I would just start sweating. I would feel as though my body temperature was two or three degrees warmer than everybody else in the room. I would convince myself that my face was bright red and therefore everybody could see how I was feeling, but no one would know why, so it was embarrassing,” the Duke vulnerably admitted.
“You get in your head about it and then you’re just like, ‘Everybody’s looking at me.’ One bead of sweat feels like the whole face is pouring down. Just sweating, and then just all in my head going, ‘This is so embarrassing. What are they thinking of me? They have no idea. I can’t tell them.'”
Prince Harry then confessed that his mental struggles led him to use alcohol as a “mask”, stating, “I was willing to drink. I was willing to take drugs. I was willing to try and do the things that made me feel less like I was feeling.
“But I slowly became aware that okay I wasn’t drinking Monday to Friday, but I would probably drink a week’s worth in one day on a Friday or a Saturday night. And I would find myself drinking not because I was enjoying it but because I was trying to mask something.”
This, of course, isn’t the first time Harry has teamed up with the legendary presenter. He and his wife Meghan Markle famously sat down with Oprah back in March for a tell-all interview about life in the palace. Needless to say, the chat ruffled a few royal feathers.
In the 90-minute event, the ex-royals bared all to the TV host. At first, it was just Meghan who sat down with her long-time friend, dropping bombshells left right and centre.
It started with the former actress alleging that a years-old rumour that she made Kate Middleton cry over a flowergirl dress was actually completely fabricated; in fact, it was the other way around.
From there it got progressively darker, with the former Duchess opening up about her harrowing mental health battle, and Prince Harry eventually joining to talk about his estranged relationship with his brother William.
Despite all of these allegations, the world was taken with one claim in particular. When Meghan told Oprah that there had been “concerns and conversations about how dark (her son Archie’s) skin might be when he was born”, the TV presenter’s stunned facial expression mirrored the reaction of viewers everywhere.
In the wake of the interview, the palace released an official statement attesting that “the issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning” while also claiming that “some recollections may vary”.
Prince William also responded to the tell-all chat, telling a paparazzo that the royals “are very much not a racist family”.
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