Prince Harry has opened up about his personal struggle, addressing the fact that no-one is immune to mental health issues – himself included. That’s the message that Harry shared on Sunday when he hosted a Heads Together BBQ at London’s Kensington Palace.
The Royal spoke openly with British sports stars at the event, he shared that he regrets not talking about his mother’s death earlier.
“I really regret not ever talking about it. For the first 28 years of my life, I never talked about it,” the 31-year-old prince told retired professional soccer player Rio Ferdinand, according to the BBC. “It is OK to suffer but as long as you talk about it. It is not a weakness. Weakness is having a problem and not recognising it and not solving that problem.”
“A lot of people think … if you’ve got a job, if you’ve got financial security, if you’ve got a family, you’ve got a house, all that sort of stuff, everyone seems to think that is all you need and you are absolutely fine to deal with stuff,” he said.
Harry’s mum, Princess Diana, was killed in a car crash in 1997 when he was just 12 years old.
“I think the key message here today is that everyone can suffer from mental health [problems] whether you’re a member of the royal family, whether you’re a soldier, whether you’re a sports star … whether you’re a white van driver, whether you’re a mother, a father, a child. You can suffer.”
Harry started the Heads Together charity with his brother and sister-in-law The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to help remove the stigma around mental health.
