Prince Harry is opening about turning to drugs and alcohol
years after the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in the first episode
of his new five-part docuseries about mental-health awareness with Oprah Winfrey.
The series titled The Me You Can’t See is now streaming on Apple TV+.
For Harry, he was just 12 years old when his mother died in a car crash in August 1997 while
being chased by paparazzi. He told Winfrey on the Apple TV+ series, he didn't process
his grief for years and wasn't encouraged to talk about it while growing up, either.
He said, "If people said, 'how are you?' I'd be like 'fine.' Never happy. Never sad,
just fine. Fine was the easy answer. But I was all over the place mentally."
According to Harry, matters worsened when it came time to embark on his royal duties.
He told Winfrey, "I was in fight or flight mode. Panic attacks,
severe anxiety … So 28 to probably 32 was a nightmare time in my life, freaking out."
To cope, Harry revealed he turned to drugs and alcohol: "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."
It was just four years ago that Harry finally sought therapy—a decision that
he said was inspired by his wife, Meghan Markle. He told Winfrey,
"It was meeting and being with Meghan. I knew that if I didn’t do therapy and fix myself,
that I was going to lose this woman who I could see spending the rest of my life with."
For more on this story, go to THR.com. For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Tiffany Taylor.