Welby’s girl: I wanted to die but didn’t ask dad for help
THE Archbishop of Canterbury’s daughter has admitted she did not turn to her father for help when suffering from depression.
Katharine Welby-Roberts said she felt unable to confide in her father Justin Welby, 61, despite his role helping people through difficult times in their lives.
The 31-year-old began to recover from her mental health problems only when she met her now-husband Mike Roberts.
The couple married at Canterbury Cathedral in 2014 with her father, who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 2013, conducting the ceremony. She now has a ten-month-
‘Too much guilt’
old son, Elijah. Mrs Welby-Roberts, who has written a book to help others who are suffering from depression – which she was diagnosed with aged 19 – said: ‘I wished I was dead and thought about dying and how I would die but I would never, in fact, have acted upon it because there would have been too much guilt about what it would have done to other people.’
And despite her father’s public role helping those in need, she never turned to him for help. She told The Sunday Times: ‘Not from my family. From other people, fine. I still honestly can’t really explain it.
‘At that stage, my relationship with my parents wasn’t very close. There is only so much you can do when your daughter isn’t talking to you. They weren’t aware how dark my mental health had got.
‘I wish I had known more about mental health and I wish there had been more education out there for my parents.
‘If I was 19 now and diagnosed with depression, both of my parents would have handled it completely differently simply because they have more information now and better understanding. But times are changing very quickly.’
Mrs Welby-Roberts suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome, as well as anxiety and depression.
She has previously appeared in a video for Heads Together, the mental health charity that has been promoted by Prince Harry and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.