Prince Harry opens up about his ‘two years of chaos’

At a time when there’s still a lot of stigma around mental health, we’re having more and more conversations about it.

Now Prince Harry is contributing to the conversation around mental health, opening up about his struggles in a tell all podcast with the Telegraph.

In the 30 minute interview, Prince Harry revealed how losing his mum at such a young age took a toll on him.

“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,” he told the Telegraph’s podcast.

“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.

When talking about the heartbreak of losing his mum, Prince Harry revealed he dealt with it by “sticking his head in the sand” and “refusing to ever think about his mum”.

“Because why would that help?” he said.

“It’s only going to make you sad, it’s not going to bring her back.”

After going through all the stages of grief, including anger and aggression, during his “two years of chaos”, Prince Harry turned to those closest to him for help.

With some encouragement from his older brother Prince William, he went and sought some professional help.

“My brother, you know, bless him, he was a huge support to me. He kept saying this is not right, this is not normal,” he told the podcast.

Thanks to his counselling and support network, the Prince says he’s in a “good place” and is channelling his energy into mental health programs.

“What we are trying to do is normalise the conversation to the point where anyone can sit down and have a coffee and just go ‘you know what, I’ve had a really s— day, can I just tell about it? Because then you walk away and it’s done,” he said.

“Because of the process I have been through over the past two and a half years, I’ve now been able to take my work seriously, been able to take my private life seriously as well, and been able to put blood, sweat and tears into the things that really make a difference and things that I think will make a difference to everybody else.”

It’s not easy talking about your mental health.

What do you think of Prince Harry’s admission? Do you have any words of wisdom for him?