Prince Harry says his life is ‘like Truman Show’ in the royal family in candid podcast interview 

‘He’s treated me the way he was treated’: Harry claims he moved family to LA to ‘break cycle’ of ‘genetic pain and suffering’ passed on from Charles, the Queen and Philip – and ‘wanted to quit as royal in early 20s’ because of ‘what it did to mum’

  • Harry, 36, appeared on Dax Shepherd’s podcast before to promote Oprah Apple show and Spotify deals
  • Compared his royal life to ‘the Truman Show’ or being an animal being watched in a zoo before he quit
  • Describing LA life he said: ‘I can actually lift my head, you can walk around feeling a little bit more free’
  • Duke revealed he and Meghan Markle, 39, met secretly in supermarket when she first visited him in London 
  • Harry spoke about mental health and having therapy after advice from Meghan who saw he was ‘angry’ 
  • When asked if he was ‘in a cage’ as a royal he said: ‘It’s the job right? You grin and bear it. You get on with it’
  • Duke told ‘Armchair Expert’ show that in his 20s that he ‘didn’t want the job’ of being a full time royal 
  • Describes the ‘genetic pain’ of being a royal, saying Charles had ‘suffered’ and he had done the same to Harry 

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At a glance: What did Harry say in the podcast? 

  • Harry compared living under scrutiny as a member of the Royal Family to the film The Truman Show, starring Jim Carrey as a man oblivious to the fact that his entire life is a TV show, and to being an animal in a zoo.
  • Speaking about Prince Charles, Harry said: ‘If I’ve experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, I’m going to make sure I break that cycle so that I don’t pass it on, basically.
  • The Duke said he met up with his future wife Meghan in a supermarket in the early days of their relationship and they pretended not to know each other.
  • Harry told how he quit as a senior royal with Meghan last year to put his family and mental health ‘first’.
  • The 36-year-old royal put ‘wild partying’ in his youth down to ‘childhood trauma’ – and started therapy after Meghan ‘saw he was angry’
  • The Duke said he was born into extraordinary privilege but hinted that he believes this has changed since he quit with Meghan 
  • Harry revealed Meghan told him of her experience of royal life: ‘You don’t need to be a princess, you can create the life that will be better than any princess.’
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Prince Harry today blasted Prince Charles’ parenting as he poured his heart out to a US mental health podcast and said he moved to California with his family to ‘break the cycle’ of ‘pain’ he suffered as a member of the Royal Family – and needed to ‘change that for my own kids’.

The Duke of Sussex also admitted he first wanted to quit The Firm in his ‘early 20s’ because of ‘what it did to my mum’ and revealed that his wife Meghan Markle had encouraged him to have therapy and had herself now concluded: ‘You don’t need to be a princess’. 

Harry’s extraordinary attack on the Royal Family, two months after accusing them of racism towards his two-year-old son Archie, came as he appeared on Dax Shepherd’s ‘Armchair Expert’ podcast in another big Hollywood moment for the Duke. The show promoted his Apple TV+ mental health series with Oprah Winfrey, The Me You Can’t See, which premieres next Friday – and it was also promoted in a tweet by Dax today.

Harry, who is expecting a daughter with Meghan this summer, suggested that Prince Charles had ‘suffered’ because of his upbringing by the Queen and Prince Philip, and that the Prince of Wales had then ‘treated me the way he was treated’, calling it ‘genetic pain’. 

During the wide-ranging interview lasting 90 minutes, Harry – who appears to have developed an American twang to his British accent since leaving the UK – said: ‘I don’t think we should be pointing the finger or blaming anybody, but certainly when it comes to parenting, if I’ve experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, I’m going to make sure I break that cycle so that I don’t pass it on, basically.

‘It’s a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway so we as parents should be doing the most we can to try and say ‘you know what, that happened to me, I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen to you’.’

He added: ‘I never saw it, I never knew about it, and then suddenly I started to piece it together and go ‘OK, so this is where he went to school, this is what happened, I know this about his life, I also know that is connected to his parents so that means he’s treated me the way he was treated, so how can I change that for my own kids’. And here I am, I moved my whole family to the US, that wasn’t the plan but sometimes you’ve got make decisions and put your family first and put your mental health first.’ 

The Duke called royal life ‘a mixture between The Truman Show and being in a zoo’ and said he quit last year to put his family and mental health ‘first’. He also put ‘wild partying’ in his youth down to ‘childhood trauma’, having previously admitted experimenting with cannabis and drinking to excess, and joked about the time he played naked billiards at a party in Las Vegas. 

The podcast saw both men share their experiences of past trauma – and Dax, who is married to Frozen star Kristen Bell, spoke about his own addiction to smoking crack and alcohol. Harry asked him what it was like to take a ‘s***load’ of drugs when he was young after suffering sexual abuse as a child – while also speaking about his own experience of ‘pain’ as a senior royal.

Harry asked him if he had ‘an awareness’ whether his abuse of drink and cocaine was fuelled by his childhood, saying: ‘For you it was your upbringing and everything that happened to you – the trauma, pain and suffering. All of a sudden you find yourself doing a s***load of drugs and partying hard’. 

The Duke described how he started therapy after Meghan ‘saw he was angry’, and when asked if he felt ‘in a cage’ while in royal duties, he said: ‘It’s the job right? Grin and bear it. Get on with it. I was in my early twenties and I was thinking I don’t want this job, I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be doing this. Look what it did to my mum, how am I ever going to settle down and have a wife and family when I know it’s going to happen again’. 

He added that his frame of mind was: ‘I’ve seen behind the curtain, I’ve seen the business model and seen how this whole thing works and I don’t want to be part of this’, before revealing he had therapy after meeting Meghan, which ‘burst’ a bubble and he decided to ‘stop complaining’.

He added: ‘So living here (in Los Angeles) now I can actually lift my head and I feel different, my shoulders have dropped, so have hers, you can walk around feeling a little bit more free, I can take Archie on the back of my bicycle, I would never have had the chance to do that.’  

Baring his soul, 36-year-old Harry, who is currently living in his $14million Californian mansion with his wife and son, said he was born into extraordinary privilege but hinted that he believes this has changed since he quit with Meghan last year, comparing it to Oprah Winfrey’s humble beginnings. He said: ‘I truly believe you can move along the spectrum as well, wherever you were born you may start in one place but that will change over time’.   

The prince also revealed his wife told him of her experience of royal life: ‘You don’t need to be a princess, you can create the life that will be better than any princess’, adding: ‘We got together and she was like ‘wow, this is very different to what my friends at the beginning said it would be’.’  

Harry had agreed to support Dax’s popular podcast about mental health and ‘the messiness of being human’, including addiction – with his appearance also possibly linked to the podcast’s move to Spotify in July announced just hours earlier, because the Sussexes have also signed a multi-million dollar deal with the streaming firm. 

As the podcast was released today, Harry’s father Charles visited a cancer research centre in London to learn how Covid-19 has affected its funding, while his brother Prince William and sister-in-law Kate Middleton spent the day in Wolverhampton to learn about projects supporting the wellbeing of the city’s young people. 

As Harry took part in another bombshell interview, two months after the Oprah chat on CBS, he also revealed:  

  • Harry says he was ‘more free’ since his move to LA with Meghan, who he says encouraged him to have therapy because he would get ‘angry’ about things he couldn’t control. He said: ‘She could tell that I was hurting’;   
  • Meghan advised him: ‘You don’t need to be a princess, you can create your own life better than any princess’
  • He suffered ‘vile and toxic abuse’ by trolls, saying he tries to have ‘compassion’ for them but this is ‘really hard when you’re on the receiving end’;
  • Harry spoke of ‘going wild’ as he chatted with the Hollywood star about their own drugs and alcohol problems;
  • Duke knew in his 20s that he ‘didn’t want the job’ of being a full time royal, also speaking about infamous incident of playing naked billiards in Las Vegas before serving in Afghanistan; 
  • When asked if people he met on royal trips to poorer areas ‘had more freedom than he did’, he said: ‘It’s the job right? You grin and bear it. Get on with it. I was thinking I don’t want this job, I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be doing this’;

(From left) Dax Shepard, his co-host Monica Padman and Prince Harry pose in a photograph for the Armchair Experts podcast

(From left) Dax Shepard, his co-host Monica Padman and Prince Harry pose in a photograph for the Armchair Experts podcast

(From left) Dax Shepard, his co-host Monica Padman and Prince Harry pose in a photograph for the Armchair Experts podcast

Prince Harry, 36, has compared his life to the Jim Carrey film The Truman Show in a new interview with a podcast that has been bought up by Spotify,

Prince Harry, 36, has compared his life to the Jim Carrey film The Truman Show in a new interview with a podcast that has been bought up by Spotify,

Prince Harry, 36, has compared his life to the Jim Carrey film The Truman Show in a new interview with a podcast that has been bought up by Spotify, 

The Duke of Sussex has said he wants to “break the cycle” of the “pain and suffering” of his upbringing with his own children, with a second baby, a daughter, due this summer

The Duke of Sussex has said he wants to “break the cycle” of the “pain and suffering” of his upbringing with his own children, with a second baby, a daughter, due this summer

The Duke of Sussex has said he wants to ‘break the cycle’ of the ‘pain and suffering’ of his upbringing with his own children, with a second baby, a daughter, due this summer 

Meghan Markle wass pictured at Whole Foods store on Kensington High Street when she was staying with Harry at his palace

Meghan Markle wass pictured at Whole Foods store on Kensington High Street when she was staying with Harry at his palace

Meghan Markle wass pictured at Whole Foods store on Kensington High Street when she was staying with Harry at his palace

Prince Charles is pictured today meeting Oscar Coulson-Starley (11) and mother Danni Starley (45) from Kent during a visit to the the Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre in London, 21 years after he formally opened the research centre

Prince Charles is pictured today meeting Oscar Coulson-Starley (11) and mother Danni Starley (45) from Kent during a visit to the the Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre in London, 21 years after he formally opened the research centre

Prince Charles is pictured today meeting Oscar Coulson-Starley (11) and mother Danni Starley (45) from Kent during a visit to the the Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre in London, 21 years after he formally opened the research centre

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge laugh during a gardening session at The Way Youth Zone in Wolverhampton today

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge laugh during a gardening session at The Way Youth Zone in Wolverhampton today

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge laugh during a gardening session at The Way Youth Zone in Wolverhampton today

Prince Harry talks about ‘going wild’ in his youth in frank discussion about Dax Shepard doing ‘s*** loads of drugs’ and ‘partying hard’ on podcast 

Prince Harry has spoken of ‘going wild’ as he chatted with a Hollywood star about their own drugs and alcohol problems.

The Duke of Sussex, 36, was speaking on actor Dax Shepard’s ‘Armchair Expert’ mental health podcast when he made the remarks. Harry was quizzing the star – who is married to Frozen actress Kristen Bell –  about the American’s substance use in high school.

The Royal asked him about Shepard’s ‘awareness’ of what sparked his path towards drugs as a teenager. Harry told him: ‘For you it was your upbringing and everything that happened to you – the trauma, pain and suffering. All of a sudden you find yourself doing a s***load of drugs and partying hard.

‘Look how many other people do that as well. They wouldn’t have the awareness at the time. I certainly wouldn’t have had the awareness when I was going wild. It’s like why am I actually doing this? In the moment its like, this is fun. I’m in my 20s – it’s what you’re supposed to do.’

Harry himself has been linked to smoking cannabis and drinking. A recent Channel 5 documentary called Prince Harry: The Troubled Prince featured broadcaster Daisy McAndrew.

She told the programme: ‘You can really understand how a lonely, privileged unhappy Prince would end up drinking and partying and taking cannabis to fill those hours and hang out with people he thought really liked or even loved him.’

Prince Charles is known to have taken the young Duke aged 16 to a residential centre for drug users for a visit after finding out.

Reformed users at Peckham’s Featherstone Lodge warned him their addictions had started with drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis.

 

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The Duke of Sussex confided in Dax that he was so desperate to hide his relationship with Meghan Markle when she stayed at Kensington Palace for the first time in 2016, that they went ‘incognito’ to the supermarket and ‘pretended we didn’t know each other’, texting shopping list items from different aisles. 

Speaking with a slight American twang to his British accent, Harry said his life was like The Truman Show – when Jim Carrey’s character discovers his life is a TV drama.  

Dax asked him if he had done ‘mundane things’, such as going to the supermarket.

He said: ‘The first time Meghan and I met up for her to come and stay with me, we met up in a supermarket in London, pretending we didn’t know each other, texting each other from the other side of the aisles. There’s people looking at me, giving me all these weird looks, and coming up to me and saying ‘hi’. I texted her saying ‘is this the right one’, and she said ‘no you want parchment paper’, and I’m like ‘where’s the parchment paper?!’.

He added: ‘I had baseball cap on, looking down at the floor, trying to stay incognito. It’s amazing how much chewing gum you see, it’s a mess’.

Harry did not say which supermarket he visited but in November 2016, Meghan was spotted leaving a Whole Foods store in West London, just a few hundred yards from Kensington Palace. Harry was also a regular, although the high-end food shop is unlikely to have much chewing gum stuck to its floors. 

The Duke appearance on ‘Armchair Expert’, hosted by Shepard and Monica Padman, may be linked to its move to Spotify from July. Harry and Meghan have signed a multi-million dollar deal with the streaming firm for their own Archewell Audio channel. 

Harry admitted that he was a privileged, but that this can change, pointing to the rise of the couple’s friend Oprah Winfrey, who interviewed them earlier this year.

He said: ‘If Oprah is at one end, I am on the other based on my privilege and upbringing and Oprah’s at the opposite end, then every single one of us is somewhere along there’.

But he added: ‘By the way I truly believe you can move along the spectrum as well, wherever you were born you may start in one place but that will change over time’.

In the interview the Duke says compares his life to the film where every second of a man’s life is scrutinised, filmed, controlled and broadcast to the world.

Discussing how his mental health struggles were dealt with when he was a child, he said: ‘[I was told] You need help. As a case of, not weakness but ‘I don’t know how to deal with this. You’re unhinged, you’re not very well, go and seek help’.

He said it had caused him to ‘object and run away’, saying: ‘Everyone of us will try to find some way to mask the actual feeling and try to feel different than how we actually feel.’

He said as a child he had ‘rejected’ the feelings, saying he had pretended he felt ‘fine.’       

Prince Charles, Prince Philip and Prince Harry appear during the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant in London on June 3, 2012

Prince Charles, Prince Philip and Prince Harry appear during the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant in London on June 3, 2012

Prince Charles, Prince Philip and Prince Harry appear during the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant in London on June 3, 2012

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with their son Archie during their royal tour of South Africa on September 25, 2019

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with their son Archie during their royal tour of South Africa on September 25, 2019

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with their son Archie during their royal tour of South Africa on September 25, 2019

The Queen and Princess Diana, Harry's mother, are pictured together in 1989

The Queen and Princess Diana, Harry's mother, are pictured together in 1989

The Queen and Princess Diana, Harry’s mother, are pictured together in 1989

Dax Shepard, who is married to actress Kristen Bell, runs the popular podcasts that interviews stars in America. It's been bought up by Spotify, who have done a deal with the Sussexes

Dax Shepard, who is married to actress Kristen Bell, runs the popular podcasts that interviews stars in America. It's been bought up by Spotify, who have done a deal with the Sussexes

Dax Shepard, who is married to actress Kristen Bell, runs the popular podcasts that interviews stars in America. It’s been bought up by Spotify, who have done a deal with the Sussexes

Prince Harry, 36, has revealed that Meghan Markle gave him words of advice on Royal life and told him: 'You can create the life better than any princess'

Prince Harry, 36, has revealed that Meghan Markle gave him words of advice on Royal life and told him: 'You can create the life better than any princess'

Prince Harry, 36, has revealed that Meghan Markle gave him words of advice on Royal life and told him: ‘You can create the life better than any princess’

Harry, pictured in Chelsea, London, said his life was like being in The Truman Show

Harry, pictured in Chelsea, London, said his life was like being in The Truman Show

Harry, pictured in Chelsea, London, said his life was like being in The Truman Show

Prince Harry: My life is like The Truman Show 

Harry admitted his life was like The Truman Show starring Jim Carrey and Natascha McElhone was a huge hit, nominated for three Oscars.

The blockbuster follows a man who is unaware that he is living in a reality show, played by Jim Carrey.

Truman has a job in the insurance business and a wife, but he eventually notices that his environment is not what it seems to be and that everyone in the show is an actor apart from him.

Once he cottons on he is repeatedly thwarted until he manages to escape, saying his catchphrase: ‘In case I don’t see you… good afternoon, good evening, and good night’, bowing to his audience and walking off set to cheers from viewers around the globe.

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At the start of the discussion, Harry explained: ‘I didn’t realise it was an interview. Was I nervous? No I wasn’t so much nervous but I guess on this particular subject around mental health.

‘For me, unfortunately in today’s world it’s quite a sensitive subject, not just for people who are sharing, but ultimately the subject matter itself it has to be handled with care.

‘When it ends up getting weaponised by certain people you can’t predict it. It doesn’t worry me anymore.’ 

Monica Padman asked him if he felt ‘in a cage’ while in royal duties. She said: ‘When you talk about going to the Commonwealth and empathising with all these people in worse situations than you – but you were in a horrible situation too and had to walk around with a smile and be the person comforting (them) but in some ways those people had more freedom than you did’.

Harry responded: ‘It’s the job right? Grin and bear it. Get on with it. I was in my early twenties and I was thinking I don’t want this job, I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be doing this. Look what it did to my mum, how am I ever going to settle down and have a wife and family when I know it’s going to happen again.

‘I’ve seen behind the curtain, I’ve seen the business model and seen how this whole thing works and I don’t want to be part of this.

‘And then once I started doing therapy it was like the bubble was burst. I plucked my head out of the sand and gave it a good shake off and I was like, you’re in this position of privilege, stop complaining and stop thinking you want something different – make this different – because you can’t get out. How are you going to do these things differently, how are you going to make your mum proud and use this platform to really affect change.

‘Looking back I realise that helping other people, helped me’. He added: ‘Once you’ve suffered you don’t want other people to suffer’, adding: ‘I’m feeling s**t, what am I going to do, I’m going to help my neighbour and have a really good day’. 

Prince Harry talks about ‘going wild’ in his youth in frank discussion about Dax Shepard doing ‘s** loads of drugs’ and ‘partying hard’ on podcast

Prince Harry's infamous party trip to Las Vegas which saw naked photos of him leaked to the press was brought up by host Dax Shepard in their 90-minute podcast chat. Pictured, Prince Harry, left, in 2012

Prince Harry's infamous party trip to Las Vegas which saw naked photos of him leaked to the press was brought up by host Dax Shepard in their 90-minute podcast chat. Pictured, Prince Harry, left, in 2012

Prince Harry’s infamous party trip to Las Vegas which saw naked photos of him leaked to the press was brought up by host Dax Shepard in their 90-minute podcast chat. Pictured, Prince Harry, left, in 2012

Prince Harry has spoken of ‘going wild’ as he chatted with a Hollywood star about their own drugs and alcohol problems.

The Duke of Sussex was speaking on actor Dax Shepard’s ‘Armchair Expert’ mental health podcast when he made the remarks.

Harry was quizzing the star – who is married to Frozen actress Kristen Bell – about the American’s substance use in high school.

The Royal asked him about Shepard’s ‘awareness’ of what sparked his path towards drugs as a teenager.

Harry told him ‘For you it was your upbringing and everything that happened to you – the trauma, pain and suffering.

‘All of a sudden you find yourself doing a s***load of drugs and partying hard.

‘Look how many other people do that as well. They wouldn’t have the awareness at the time.

‘I certainly wouldn’t have had the awareness when I was going wild.

‘It’s like why am I actually doing this? In the moment its like, this is fun. I’m in my 20s – it’s what you’re supposed to do.’

Harry himself has been linked to smoking cannabis and drinking.

A recent Channel 5 documentary called Prince Harry: The Troubled Prince featured broadcaster Daisy McAndrew.

She told the programme: ‘You can really understand how a lonely, privileged unhappy Prince would end up drinking and partying and taking cannabis to fill those hours and hang out with people he thought really liked or even loved him.’

Prince Charles is known to have taken the young Duke aged 16 to a residential centre for drug users for a visit after finding out,

Reformed users at Peckham’s Featherstone Lodge warned him their addictions had started with drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis.

Meghan told Prince Harry: ‘You don’t need to be a princess, you can create the life that will be better

Prince Harry has revealed that Meghan Markle gave him words of advice on Royal life and told him: ‘You can create the life better than any princess.’

The Duke of Sussex, 36, told Dax Shepard’s ‘Armchair Expert’ show about his wife Meghan’s ‘most amazing explanation’ as he spoke about life as a ‘fairytale’ royal compared to the reality. 

Speaking in a 90-minute interview on the podcast, Prince Harry was asked by the US host, who is married to Frozen star Kristen Bell, about what it was like growing up as a royal – and how it compared to the portrayal of princes and princesses in movies.

‘My wife had the most amazing explanation,’ the duke explained. ‘You don’t need to be a princess, you can create the life that will be better than any princess. 

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (pictured) walk down the west steps of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, in Windsor, on May 19, 2018

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (pictured) walk down the west steps of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, in Windsor, on May 19, 2018

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (pictured) walk down the west steps of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, in Windsor, on May 19, 2018

‘It’s something like that. And that’s coming from her own lived experience.’

Prince Harry went on to say how he would watch Disney films growing up just like other young children.

Host Dax went on to say how that must’ve been ‘bizarre,’ especially when the ‘ultimate prize was to become royalty’ but in reality, it actually didn’t feel ‘all that euphoric’.

The Duke of Sussex responded: ‘I do think that the old way of thinking – of the prince and princess – with all these little girls reading these wonderful fairytales going ‘all I want to be is a princess.” 

However, Harry went on: ‘and I’m thinking…’ before squirming – as the host jumps in adding ‘It’s not so rad!’ 

Harry: I want to break the cycle of pain and suffering for my own children

Harry told the podcast: 'I can take Archie on the back of my bicycle, I would never have had the chance to do that.'

Harry told the podcast: 'I can take Archie on the back of my bicycle, I would never have had the chance to do that.'

Harry told the podcast: ‘I can take Archie on the back of my bicycle, I would never have had the chance to do that.’

The Duke of Sussex has said he wants to ‘break the cycle’ of the ‘pain and suffering’ of his upbringing with his own children.

Harry, who is expecting a daughter with wife Meghan and is already father to son Archie, aged two, compared his life to ‘a mixture between The Truman Show and being in a zoo’.

Speaking on the podcast Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, he said: ‘There is no blame. I don’t think we should be pointing the finger or blaming anybody, but certainly when it comes to parenting, if I’ve experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, I’m going to make sure I break that cycle so that I don’t pass it on, basically.

‘It’s a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway so we as parents should be doing the most we can to try and say ‘you know what, that happened to me, I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen to you’.’

He added: ‘It’s hard to do but for me it comes down to awareness. I never saw it, I never knew about it, and then suddenly I started to piece it together and go ‘OK, so this is where he went to school, this is what happened, I know this about his life, I also know that is connected to his parents so that means he’s treated me the way he was treated, so how can I change that for my own kids?’

‘And here I am, I moved my whole family to the US, that wasn’t the plan but sometimes you’ve got make decisions and put your family first and put your mental health first.’

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle met up in a SUPERMARKET and pretended not to know each other 

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ‘went to a supermarket and pretended not to know each other’ when she first visited the royal in London, he has revealed. 

The Duke of Sussex appeared on Dax Shepard’s ‘Armchair Expert’ podcast today, and said that the couple tried to stay ‘incognito’ during her first trip to stay with him at at Kensington Palace.

The 36-year-old, who is currently living in his $14million Californian mansion with his wife and son Archie, two, said: ‘The first time Meghan and I met up for her to come and stay with me, we met up in a supermarket in London, pretending we didn’t know each other, texting each other from the other side of the aisles’.

Meghan Markle was pictured at Whole Foods store on Kensington High Street when she was staying with Harry at his palace in 2016

Meghan Markle was pictured at Whole Foods store on Kensington High Street when she was staying with Harry at his palace in 2016

Meghan Markle was pictured at Whole Foods store on Kensington High Street when she was staying with Harry at his palace in 2016

‘There’s people looking at me, giving me all these weird looks, and coming up to me and saying ”hi’. I texted her saying ‘is this the right one?,’ and she said ‘no you want parchment paper,’ and I’m like ‘where’s the parchment paper?!’.

He added: ‘It was nice. I had baseball cap on, looking down at the floor.

‘I don’t know how many times you’ve done that when you’re trying trying to stay incognito, and you’re like woah – sign post.

‘It’s amazing how much chewing gum you see and how many people’s shoes you see,  it’s a mess’.

Harry did not say which supermarket he visited but in November 2016, Meghan was spotted leaving a Whole Foods store in west London, just a few hundred yards from Kensington Palace. Harry was also a regular, although the high-end food shop is unlikely to have much chewing gum stuck to its floors.

Harry says it is hard to forgive trolls who gave him ‘vile and toxic abuse’ 

During the interview, he also said he and Meghan Markle first met up in a supermarket - and 'pretended' they didn't know each other to avoid attracting attention

During the interview, he also said he and Meghan Markle first met up in a supermarket - and 'pretended' they didn't know each other to avoid attracting attention

During the interview, he also said he and Meghan Markle first met up in a supermarket – and ‘pretended’ they didn’t know each other to avoid attracting attention

‘You could take your clothes off in Las Vegas’: Moment host Dax Shepard jokes about Prince Harry’s infamous party trip during mental health podcast 

Splash Harry: Partying in Las Vegas in 2012 - on the same holiday, leaked pictures saw him playing strip billiards

Splash Harry: Partying in Las Vegas in 2012 - on the same holiday, leaked pictures saw him playing strip billiards

Splash Harry: Partying in Las Vegas in 2012 – on the same holiday, leaked pictures saw him playing strip billiards

Prince Harry’s infamous party trip to Las Vegas which saw naked photos of him leaked to the press was brought up by host Dax Shepard in their 90-minute podcast chat.

The Duke of Sussex, 36, laughed nervously after the American actor, who is married to Frozen star Kristen Bell, cracked a joke about it. 

In 2012, Harry enjoyed a wild weekend in Las Vegas, where he was snapped in just a necklace while a naked girl hid behind him following a game of strip billiards in his VIP suite. 

During Dax’s ‘Armchair Expert’ show, the royal was chatting about how people are more likely to run away and rebel after being told ‘you need help’ when the host mentioned the notorious trip, joking: ‘[Or] take your clothes off in Las Vegas’.

Discussing how his mental health struggles were dealt with when he was a child, Harry said: ‘[I was told] You need help. As a case of, not weakness but ‘I don’t know how to deal with this. You’re unhinged, you’re not very well, go and seek help’.

He said it had caused him to ‘object and run away’, saying: ‘Everyone of us will try to find some way to mask the actual feeling and try to feel different than how we actually feel.’

The duke added: ‘And it’s well, rule number one is, when you actually want or feel as though someone needs help, telling them to their face ‘you need help’, is probably the best way for them to go: ‘Er no, no I don’t. Object, runaway.

‘Delay or these kinds of things or go and drink or take drugs or whatever, you find different ways,’ before Dax adds: ‘Take your clothes off in Vegas.’

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Elsewhere in the interview, Harry said he had been on the end of ‘vile, toxic abuse’ online, saying he asked himself about trolls: ‘What made you want to come at me like that, when clearly we’ve never met?’ 

He called hatred a ‘form of project’ which came from ‘unresolved pain’, saying: ‘ultimately there’s a source to it.’   

He added that there was ‘certain corners of the media’ who questioned ‘if he is privileged how could he be suffering’.

He said: ‘[People say] How bad can it be?  You had people running around and doing this and that…

‘I was born into privilege but it gave me a front row seat – my education was not in school but was in meeting people across the Commonwealth.’ 

Harry said: ‘I know people are looking at me saying, you’re a prince, you’re from a palace, where’s your crown and where’s your cape?

‘The reality is, meeting people from all around the world puts it into context.’

He said he doesn’t see sharing his mental health struggles as ‘complaining’, and said he was determined to ‘have a positive impact on somebody’s life.’

He explained: ‘You have to listen to your body, otherwise you’re just cruising around with your fingers in your ears, ‘lalalaa.”

He said: ‘To me it’s so fascinating to hear of someone’s struggles…and then tracing it back to, what happened to you, not what is wrong with you.’ 

Prince Harry went on to speak about the pressures he felt as a royal living in the UK, saying: ‘Just because I’m a well known person, I can’t go outside.

‘It’s really really sad and their argument is from the paparazzi and everyone else, if you’re in a public space it’s absolutely fine for us to do.

‘So what is our human right, as an individual and a family if you’re saying from the moment we step out of our house, that it’s open season and free game – what, because of public interest?

‘There’s no public interest in you taking your kids for a walk down the beach.  Nothing, it’s not news. This is my issue with it, news should stay is news. 

‘What is happening in today’s world is that news has been hijacked and used to commercially benefit a small group of people, so this sort of rabid, feeding frenzy, and going back to the kids point, it’s absolutely true, these kids don’t get a choice, they don’t get a say in it and if it becomes any worse, then what you’re basically accepting is, anyone with a talent… let’s punish people who have got a talent and have literally worked their asses off to get to a point where yes they’re making money, their fans are contributing that but they’re bringing entertainment value to society.’

‘So his 16-bathroom home isn’t privilege?’ Royal expert blasts ‘victim’ Prince Harry after he tells Dax Shepard’s podcast ‘you may start in one place but can change overtime’ 

Royal author Angela Levin

Royal author Angela Levin

Royal author Angela Levin

Prince Harry was today blasted by a royal expert for being ‘the victim again’ after saying that he was born into extraordinary privilege – before hinting that he believes this has changed since he quit royal life with Meghan Markle last year.

The Duke of Sussex revealed that when he and Meghan first started dating they ‘pretended they didn’t know each other’ in a supermarket to hide their relationship.

In a wide-ranging interview he also admitted to hating royal life so much he wanted to quit in his 20s and that Meghan has concluded: ‘You don’t need to be a princess.’

Harry also said of privilege: ‘I truly believe you can move along the spectrum as well, wherever you were born you may start in one place but that will change over time’. 

He told Dax Shepard’s ‘Armchair Expert’ show that the couple tried to stay ‘incognito’ during his wife’s first trip to stay with him in London in 2016, where he lived at Kensington Palace, texting items for their shopping list from across food aisles.

Harry also compared his life as a mixture of The Truman Show – when Jim Carrey’s character discovers his life is a TV show – and being an animal at the zoo.

But royal author Angela Levin, who wrote 2018 book Harry: Conversations with the Prince, tweeted this afternoon: ‘Harry’s the victim again on Dax Shepard’s podcast.

‘Reveals he and Meg pretended not to know each other in a supermarket and that although he was born into privilege now believes ‘you may start in one place but you can change in time’. So his 16-bathroom home isn’t privilege.’

Ms Levin was referring to the couple’s £11million mansion in Montecito, California, where they have been living since last summer as after stepping down as senior royals at the start of last year. 

During the podcast, the Duke also said: ‘If Oprah is at one end, I am on the other based on my privilege and upbringing. And Oprah’s at the opposite end, then every single one of us is somewhere along there.

‘By the way I truly believe you can move along the spectrum as well – wherever you were born you may start in one place but that will change overtime.’

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Transcript: First 20 minutes of Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard – Prince Harry 

Dax Shepard: Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert’s Experts on Expert. I’m Dan Shepherd. I’m joined by Monica Mouse.

Monica Padman: Hi.

DS: Hello.

MP: Special day.

DS: Very special, particularly for you as a royal-phile.

MP: I can’t believe it. I still can’t believe it and we did it

DS: Refuse to believe it.

MP: Yeah.

DS: Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex. Of course, he’s a member of the British Royal Family, the younger son of Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales. Radical dude.

MP: So cool.

DS: Had zero idea what kind of guy he was.

MP: Yeah, I thought he was gonna be a little more stiff, like a little bit, royal.

DS: Yes.

MP: And he was very fun.

DS: He was just a rad dude. Before you enjoy Prince Harry, we have an enormous announcement. Yeah. We here, Rob, Monica and I at Armchair Expert, are going to go to Spotify.

MP: That’s right.

DS: In July, exclusively, and we will be doing the exact same show you’ve always loved, or hopefully you love. And we’re going to be doing that on a platform with more fun features and more ways to get involved with the community.

MP: Yeah

DS: And it’s going to be wonderful.

MP: So if you haven’t already, please download the Spotify app.

DS: Get on that.

MP: And listen to us there. Starting in July, it will be the only place you can listen to us. So get on it now. And yeah, same show.

DS: ‘And we hope you all join us because we love doing this more than any other thing we do.

MP: Yes.

DS: Now please enjoy Prince Harry. We are supported by Brookelinen. My favourite hotel quality sheets to get into and writhe around in the nude.

MP: They just celebrated their seventh anniversary and they sent me some cookies.

DS: They did?

MP: Yeah.

DS: What flavour, linen flavour?

MP: Yes. Hotel quality cookie.

DS: Well listen, if a lot of your life is still being lived at home, then make your home as comfortable as possible. A refuge, an oasis, your personal Zen zone. Go ahead and max out on the extra soft sheets, super plush towels and loungewear. You can get the best of all of it from Brookelinen. I just dried myself this morning on a Brookelinen towel.

MP: They really are incredible.

DS: They’re impeccable. They’re decadent, they’re soft, they’re absorbent. Brookelinen was started to create beautiful high quality home essentials that don’t cost an arm and a leg. They’re so confident in their product, they come with a 365 day warranty. So give yourself that comfort refresh you deserve and get it for less. Go to Brookelinen.com and use promo code ‘expert’ to get $20 off with a minimum purchase of $100. That’s Brookelinen.com and enter promo code ‘expert’ for $20 off with a minimum purchase of $100. That’s Brookelinen.com, promo code ‘expert’.

Title music: He’s an Armchair Expert, he’s an Armchair Expert.

Prince Harry: What’s your feeling about Joe Rogan’s comments about…

DP: Vaccinating? Ridiculous, obviously, and I side with him…

MP: Get comfy though, we want you to be relaxed.

DP: Yeah

MP: Yeah, there it is, there we are

DP: So I think what he said was ridiculous. And I also a little bit agree with him, like, I f***ing call fights. I’m an MMA announcer. I’m not Fauci, no one should be listening to my opinion on medical s***. So I agree with both sides, like, what he said was stupid.

PH: I think the issue is like in today’s world with misinformation just like endemic, you’ve got to be careful about what comes out of your mouth when it comes to that, because news doesn’t exist in just news anymore.

DS: Yeah, you’re totally right.

PH: It’s splattered all over the place. So people are like, listen to Joe Rogan say, oh, if he says that, then maybe I’m, and it’s, you’re right, this is sort of like, ‘don’t listen to me – it’s like, well, don’t say that, just stay out of it’

MP: Yeah, exactly, and just acknowledge you are a person that people listen to, you are.

PH: If you have a platform, with a platform comes responsibility.

MP: I agree.

DS: But it is all very tricky. So like Oprah famously got sued by the media industry for talking about mad cow disease. This how her and Dr Phil met. And part of me was like, yes, she has a huge platform. And also she can have a f***ing opinion about s***. And she’s not like legally responsible if you decide to stop eating meat because of her opinion. How about this? What if I say when I was single I didn’t wear condoms as much as I should have. Like, has that become a thing that people… I’m not advising anyone not to.

PH: No, because you’re saying you didn’t do as much as you should have.

MP: Yeah, exactly.

DS: Oh there we go, should have.

PH: Should have, yeah.

DS: Oh, OK.

PH: So you certainly share the opinion and say this is my opinion.

DS: Uh huh. And I recognize it was stupid.

MP: Yeah, the implication is that you should have done something different.

DS: That’s true.

PH: It all comes down to being responsible.

MP: Yeah, remember when we had the guy on, we had someone on who wrote a book called Hooked about the food industry and it was crazy. He was like ‘the same people who are selling you whatever the processed food have an investment in the pill that’

DS: Or he was being specifically, like they create this huge problem with overly sugary foods. They also offer you the antidote, which is sugar free food. It’s a good business plan. Like if I were an investor and you brought it to me.

MP: It’s smart, there’s no denying that.

DS: Yeah

PH: But supply and demand, right.

DS: And, by the way, I have a libertarian bent to me, I have an individual rights bent to me. And I used to think that until I learned that if it were a fair competition, yes, so if it was just this food tastes delicious, and you did not eat a bunch of it. But once they find out, they’re employing the world’s best chemists, to not just design a good taste, but a taste that dissipates really quickly so that you desire another bite quickly, like you’re outmatched in that situation. It’s not a fair fight. It’s like the algorithms on the internet. You can’t compete with that, a human.

PH: You can’t if you have the awareness of what it’s doing to you. And the fact that it’s learning, which is scary. And advertising has been going on for hundreds of years, but done really responsibly. The difference here is targeted ads. If ads have always worked for companies, you can put on the TV, you can walk away, you can come back, your involvement is switching on switching off or changing the channel. Whereas now with algorithms is there, it’s just feeding your habits. And it’s also reading through your emails and everything else. So it’s getting to know you, like, it gets to know the decisions you’re gonna make before you make them, then it creates this echo chamber of no pushback, of no context of nothing. It’s just perpetuating and feeding the bias and the habits that you already have inside of you, which is terrible.

DS: Yeah.

MP: Yeah, so scary.

DS: And if you were asked what you were going to do next, and then you asked the algorithm what you were going to do next, the algorithm would be right, like three to one. So that’s why it’s not a fair fight, because you can’t remember everything you’ve done in the last 12 years. But Google knows what you’ve done for the last 12 years in a nanosecond.

PH: And I think they get to wash it – at the moment until it changes – at the moment, they get to wash their hands of responsibility, because like, oh, it’s not human error. It’s a computer. It’s like, who wrote the algorithms? You guys did? Probably all male and all white

MP: Yeah, likely.

DS: Yeah, yeah, and here we are, you and I, a couple of white males, pontificating. First of all, I’m so excited you’re here. It’s very flattering that you came down from Santa Barbara, like, you had to f***ing work to get here.

PH: That’s alright, I just sat in the back, did a little bit of work, read my notes

DS: And perfected the algorithm.

PH: And perfected the algorithm, exactly. I didn’t expect to come into a building site though.

DS: Most people don’t.

PH: That wasn’t in the brief.

MP: Left that part out

PH: I expected better.

DS: I’m really excited to meet you because, in full disclosure, I’m the most ill-informed person on the royal family. At least in my circle. You’re the only one I ever knew, and simply because you were in those awesome nude photos in Vegas. And I literally said to myself, this guy’s a party.

MP: Yeah. He has said that many times.

PH: Because you’re constantly looking for other people to go sort of balance out your own behaviour. Right?

DS: Exactly. Yes, yes.

PH: It’s relatable,

DS: Truthfully, truthfully. And then on top of that, I was like, God, this mother***er’s got a good body. You are in tremendous shape.

PH: OK, now it’s getting weird.

DS: Oh, we haven’t touched weird yet.

PH: That was a few weeks before I went to Afghanistan.

DS: This is the other reason I knew you is because I was there in ’07 during the USO tour, in the big hubbub was that you were going to be arriving.

PH: OK

DS: And I remember thinking, oh wow they send princes into battle? I did not realise, that was not what I thought happened.

PH: So much for keeping it quiet.

DS: Oh, yeah. Yeah, no, of course everyone knew, right?

PH: But I wasn’t running down the strip, stripping or being naked, at least.

DS: You could have been one of the dancing boys of Afghanistan, do you know about that?

MP: We should show the prince the calendar, where is it?

PH: What calendar?

DS: You think that’s gonna make him feel more comfortable?

MP: Well, yeah, because I don’t want him to think it’s just him.

DS: Oh, yeah. It’s not you who I’m just obsessed with.

PH: Thank you.

MP: Yes.

DS: Monica makes this for me every year and it’s a calendar of all my favourite bodies of friends.

MP: And they’re all men.

DS: They’re all men.

MP: And they’re all gorgeous bodies.

PH: Yeah. Why am I not September?

MP: Exactly, next year.

DS: Next year, yeah, we’ll find that.

PH: And why is it on September?

DS: Can I tell you that is?

PH: This is obviously a clear favourite.

DS: Alright, because you’re born in September.

PH: Exactly, who is this guy, though?

DS: That’s Kumail Nanjiani. You know, Kumail, don’t you?

PH: No

MP: You might not know him.

DS: Silicon Valley, do you watch Silicon Valley?

PH: No of course I haven’t

DS: Of course I haven’t

PH: I recognize his abs.

MP: Very notable ads.

DS: Oh, so that’s an inside joke. My friend Tom Hanson, who I worship. He’s 72. And he’s my idol and my de facto father. He’s got the most enviable hair of anyone I know. Look, that’s a 72-year-old head of hair right there.

PH: What’s weird is everybody else is showing their abs and then he’s showing the top of his head.

DS: It’s kind of things I covet.

PH: Who’s this?

DS: Oh, so that was an AD on a show I was on – Nick, who just was inordinately jacked and I was obsessed with it and he accommodated Monica.

MP: I did a lot of very uncomfortable texting to get this calendar made, like, ‘Hey, is there anyway you could send me a picture…

PH: … a picture of your torso…

DS: Torso.

MP: … of your naked body? You can pick the part, whatever you feel looks best.

DS: And now that you’re in our sphere, what…

PH: You’re the one who has to ask the question

MP: Well it was a surprise gift.

DS: I don’t, I don’t ask for this. This is just some kind of benevolent gesture by Monica. And now that you’re in our sphere, you’re f***** because she is gonna ask you for something.

PH: But you can have the top of the head. It’s bald and it’s ginger but you can have the top of the head.

DS: Okay, so I want to know, are you nervous to do this interview?

PH: Well I didn’t know it was an interview.

MP: It’s not, it’s a chat.

PH: Yeah. Was I nervous? No. Not so much nervous. But I guess on this particular subject around mental health. Yeah. For me, it’s always a, unfortunately, today’s world is quite a sensitive subject, not just for the people who are sharing. But ultimately, the subject matter itself has to be handled with care. Yeah, there can be humor, there can be everything else. But when it ends up getting weaponized by certain people.

DS: Headlines, yeah.

PH: Yeah. You can never predict it. Though, probably in this instance, you probably can. But that doesn’t worry me anymore. I used to be fearful of it.

DS: Yeah.

PH: Now it’s almost like the same groups of people that come at it so negatively, or try and turn it against you or your weaponize it and therefore affects so many other millions of people from doing so…

DS: Yeah.

PH: Actually encourages me to speak out more.

MP: Exactly.

PH: I guess that’s probably the same with you guys. And the same people that start in the same chair, which is like, Look, I’m going to be vulnerable. If I get attacked for it. Let’s see who’s actually attacking me. What’s their story? What’s their agenda? Right, who do they work for?

MP: It actually says more about them than it does.

PH: That’s how I’ve always felt when it comes to projection. I mean, hatred is a form of projection, right?

MP: Yeah.

PH: We’re not born to hate people.

MP: Yeah.

PH: So it manifests itself over a period of time. And of course, it can come from unresolved pain, or being hurt continually, as a young kid or through adult life. But ultimately, there’s a source to it. There’s a reason why you want to hate somebody else.

MP: Yeah.

PH: And when it comes to trolling on social media, the best way that I look at it is I, okay, take a moment be aware of what this is doing to me and how it’s making me feel.

DS: Yeah.

PH: But then look at them and go, how’s your day going?

DS/MP: Yeah.

PH: And actually have some compassion for them. Which is really hard when you’re on the receiving end of this, like, just vile, toxic abuse. But the reality is, is you say, flip it.

MP: Yeah.

PH: Let me just say: What happened to you?

DS: Yeah.

PH: What made you want to come with me like that, when clearly we’ve never met, you don’t know me? Like, what’s your goal? What are you actually doing? I know, it might make you feel better in the moment, but long term, it’s not going to help.

DS: Okay, so where I come from in working-class Michigan, I think my fear of sharing about like being molested or violent stepdads or all the stuff I went through. My fear was like, those people be like, ‘Oh, my God, you need so much attention’. Like that I’m mining it for sympathy or attention. Which I’m doing neither. But that was maybe the hurdle for me to get over is that voice of my peers at home, what would they say that I’m just attention seeking. What are yours? Like, what is the thing you go to from your childhood or whatnot, where you can hear people saying, like, stop being a baby, stop?

PH: No, I think more like ‘oh you need help’, as a case of not so much weakness, but ‘I don’t know how to deal with this’, ‘you’re unhinged’, or’ you’re not particularly well go and seek help’. And it’s like, well, rule number one is when you actually want or feel as though someone needs help, telling them to their face, ‘you need help’ is probably the best way for them to go. No, I don’t, object, run away, delay, all these kind of things. Or go and drink or take drugs or whatever you find.

DS: Go and take your clothes off in Vegas.

PH: Every single one of us wherever we are, wherever we come from, there will always try and find some way to be able to mask the actual feeling and be able to try and make us feel different to how we are actually feeling, perhaps having a feeling. Right, because so many people are just numb to it. That was a huge part of the beginning of my life, which was like, I rejected. I said, there’s nothing wrong with me. I’m fine.

DS: Well, there’s a male component too, don’t you think?

PH: Huge.

DS: Yeah, I know. For me, where I grew up any emotion was weakness and weakness was cancer.

PH: Yeah, true. But look how much the world has changed now. I think the worse the world gets, the harder it becomes and the more suffering that there is, the more people feel as though they have something relatable within their community to their neighbours, or perhaps online.

DS: Yeah, yeah.

PH: And that’s creating a change in the conversation, certainly through the series Oprah and I are doing as far as I viewed it for many, many years now. And we’re very vocal about on the series, which is speaking out, especially now in today’s world is a sign of strength rather than a sign of weakness.

DS: Yeah.

PH: So if you are making that conscious decision to say: You know what, it’s not self serving, but I want to share my story. I’m being asked to share my story to hopefully help someone or loads of other people. I’m probably going to get trolled. I’m probably going to get attacked by the same people that were doing anyway. If I’m willing to make that decision, surely that comes from a place of courage rather than weakness?

DS: Yeah,

DS: For sure. The easy thing to do is yeah, stay quiet. You know, the fact that you guys are doing this series, The Me You Can’t See that you produced with Oprah and you guys conduct interviews, what I loved immediately is on the surface, you two have as polar opposite of childhood environments that two people could have. I mean, literally, if you had to build a spectrum, Oprah would certainly be towards the tail of one end, and you would certainly be towards the tail of the other. And you know, what I love about it is trauma, loneliness, all these things, they transcend that whole spectrum.

PH: But if I’m on one end and Oprah is on the other based on my privilege and my upbringing I present the opposite end. And then every single one of us is somewhere along there. And by the way, I truly believe that you can move along the spectrum as well. Right? Wherever you were born, you may start in one place, but that will change over time.

DS: Well you guys are almost flipping maybe. Oprah is going to end up as the Queen of America, you never know…

PH: Whoopsies

DS: … and you’re sharecropping a farm

MP: No you’ll meet in the middle somewhere

PH: But I think that’s exactly it. It is about meeting in the middle. Well, one of the main reasons for the series is to be able to have these honest conversations with people around the world who have suffered and are continuing to suffer, in some instances, is about stripping away all of the – not so much the labeling – but our backgrounds and the privilege because, again, within certain corners of the media it is very much like: ‘You’re privileged, how could you possibly be suffering?’ And it’s like…

DS: Can I interject and just say that I have unique compassion for you. Because I feel like if I were you, I would feel not entitled to share my experience that I would be judged as someone who was just not grateful or that had it made and was still complaining. Like, I think, weirdly, it is easier for Oprah to come from where she came from and tell you about her trauma than for you to say, you know what, it wasn’t f****** great.

MP: Yeah because people are like, What? You grew up in a palace?

PH: Yeah how bad can it be? You had like people like running around doing this… Especially in today’s world, and believe me, look, all of us have seen suffering. And I’ve luckily, because it’s been part of my own growth. I’ve spent many, many years traveling around the world, seeing other people suffer. And being able to have that empathy for them, the ability to put myself in their shoes. That was the education that I had. So the weird thing is that, yeah, I was born into this privilege. But the privilege also gave me the most unbelievable front row seat and education. My education is not in school, my education is about meeting people across the Commonwealth, right? 52 countries, 2.4 billion people 60 per cent of that 2.4 billion people under the age of 29. Like, everywhere I go, I ask questions everywhere I go, I try and listen, I don’t want to come in and say these are what I think. My solutions are like… I already know, they’re probably looking at me going. You’re a prince, you come from a palace. Where’s your crown? Where’s your cape? Sorry kids, there is no crown and no cape… ‘well I don’t want to [speak to you] if you haven’t got a crown, bye!’

But the reality is that you meet these kids, and you go to these communities all over the world. And it just puts it into context. Yeah. And that’s why I feel more comfortable now being able to talk about my own struggles, because I do it to help other people. I don’t see it as complaining. And I don’t think anyone should see talking about your own issues as complaining. It’s about sharing your story, knowing how relatable it is, because you will, I guarantee you by sharing the vulnerabilities and experiences that you have had growing up, there will be at least probably, depending on what platform you’re using, whether it’s podcasts or otherwise…

DS: As long as I keep it off Twitter

PH: It’s gonna have a positive impact on someone’s life.

DS: Yes, someone feels seen, they don’t feel alone. It all is wonderful. Now, I think you and I are also in a really unique situation as well. Like what you and I have had a really firsthand experience with is like, oh, the sh** that’s sustainable, the foundation for self esteem, all those things, sadly, they don’t really derive from all the status stuff that I bought into as a kid and that you were just inadvertently born into, which is like, all these things, the kind of dream we’ve been sold. I just like saying out loud, like I had made the most amount of money I ever made. People recognised me at the airport, and I was on the verge of killing myself because I was such a bad addict. Life was miserable. So like, I had all the things that are supposed to make you happy, and it just didn’t f****** work.

PH: So you were chasing something?

DS: Yes, the thing I needed wasn’t the things I thought I needed. Like the things you need is like connection to community being of service to other people, things that are actual self-esteem builders, not accomplishments or adoration those things at least for me didn’t fill up or give me the esteem I needed.

PH: Being catapulted into fame was presumably a hell of a lot to deal with? Did you have anyone around you at the time guiding you or giving you advice?

More to follow

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