Prince Harry Says ‘Years of Chaos’ Followed Death Of Mother, Princess Diana
Twenty years after the tragic death of Princess Diana, the royal's youngest son, Harry, admits he's struggled to cope.
Harry was just 12 when Diana was killed in a horrific car accident that followed an attempt to escape encroaching paparazzi, and said in a new interview with The Telegraph that he spent years trying to ignore his pain. He only began genuinely seeking help four years ago, and now that he's 32, he says he's finally learning how to deal with it all.
"I have probably been very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions when all sorts of grief and sort of lies and misconceptions and everything are coming to you from every angle," he said. “I can safely say that losing my mum at the age of 12, and therefore shutting down all of my emotions for the last 20 years, has had a quite serious effect on not only my personal life but my work as well."
Harry said he initially resorted to "sticking my head in the sand" to deal with Diana's death. Eventually, though, dormant emotions caught up with him, and "years of chaos" followed.
“And then [I] started to have a few conversations and actually all of a sudden, all of this grief that I have never processed started to come to the forefront and I was like, there is actually a lot of stuff here that I need to deal with," he noted.
Harry said he's since taken up boxing and has occasionally turned to therapy to help see him through the tough times. Finally, he's getting a hold on things, he said.
"I know there is huge merit in talking about your issues and the only thing about keeping it quiet is that it’s only ever going to make it worse," he concluded.
Stars We've Lost Over The Past Year: