“Spare” Prince Harry’s memoir is said to give details about growing up in the royal family and dealing with the British press.
Prior to the book coming out, Anderson Cooper interviewed Prince Harry on “60 Minutes.” Anderson Cooper shared the “Top 5 Bombshells From Prince Harry’s Exclusive Interview.”
Bombshell 1: Following the death of Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, Harry said that he wanted proof that she was dead.
Anderson Cooper asked Harry why he wanted to see the photographs of the accident.
Harry replied, “Mainly proof. Proof that she was in the car. Proof that she was injured. And proof that the very paparazzi chased her into the tunnel.”
“They were the ones that were taking photographs, photographs of her lying half dead on the car’s back seat.”
Cooper said, “You write in the book, ‘I hadn’t been aware before this moment that the last thing Mummy saw on this earth was flashbulbs.’ That’s what you saw in the pictures?” Cooper asked.
Prince Harry responded, “Well, there were the pictures that showed the reflection of a group of photographers taking photographs through the window, and the reflection on the window was them. All I saw was the back of my mum’s head, slumped on the back seat. There were other more gruesome photographs.”
Bombshell 2: Harry said that he received experimental therapeutic treatments to suppress “a lot of anger.”
Harry admitted to “resorting to drinking heavily. Because I wanted to numb the feeling, or I wanted to distract myself from how … whatever I was thinking. And I would, you know, resort to drugs as well.
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He also said that he smoked marijuana and used cocaine after feeling “hopeless and lost.” Anderson said, “You write in the book about psychedelics: Ayahuasca, psilocybin, mushrooms.”
Harry responded, “I would never recommend people do this recreationally. But doing it with the right people if you are suffering from a huge amount of loss, grief or trauma, then these things have a way of working as a medicine. For me, the substances cleared the windscreen, the windshield, the misery of loss. They cleared away this idea that I had in my head that my mother, that I needed to cry to prove to my mother that I missed her. When in fact, all she wanted was for me to be happy.”
Princess Diana and Prince Charles divorced in 1995. Camilla referred to the third person in the marriage who maintained a relationship with Charles.
Bombshell 3: Harry said in regard to Camilla, “She was the villain. She was the third person in their marriage. She needed to rehabilitate her image.”
Anderson asked, “You and your brother both directly asked your dad not to marry Camilla?”
“Yes,” Prince Harry responded, to which Anderson asked, “Why?”
Harry said, “We didn’t think it was necessary. We thought that it was gonna cause more harm than good and that if he was now with his person, that surely that’s enough. Why go that far when you don’t necessarily need to? We wanted him to be happy. And we saw how happy he was with her. So, at the time, it was, ‘OK.'”
Cooper continued, “You wrote that she started a campaign in the British press to pave the way for the marriage. “I even wanted Camilla to be happy. Maybe she’d be less dangerous if she was happy. How was she dangerous?”
Harry said, “That made her dangerous because of the connections she forged in the British press. And there was an open willingness on both sides to trade of information.”
Harry said that from the very beginning of his relationship with Meghan Markle, his family and the British press had doubts about the American actress. “The fact that she was American, an actress, divorced, Black, and biracial with a Black mother… Those were just four of the typical stereotypes that are, became a feeding frenzy for the British press.”
Bombshell 4: Harry described his physical altercation with Prince William.
Prince William’s anger towards Harry came out after Harry put out a statement condemning the tabloid’s coverage of his relationship with Markle. This came at the same time when Meghan and Harry were given the Duke and Duchess of Sussex title.
Harry said he was shouting at me, and I was shouting back. William pushed Harry, and he fell on the dog’s bowl, which was when he cut his back. He did say that William did apologize.
Anderson asked if there was any kind of relationship with his brother. He admitted, “Uh, currently, no. But I look forward to – I look forward to us being able to find peace.”
Bombshell 5: Prince Harry doesn’t speak to his father or brother.
“Can you see a day when you would return as a full-time member of the royal family?” Cooper asked.
“No. I can’t see that happening,” Harry said.
