Princes made it OK to admit I was ill: TV’s Tom Bradby

NEWSREADER Tom Bradby has revealed how Princes William and Harry inspired him to be honest about his mental health. The ITV News At Ten anchorman, who has become a friend of the royal brothers, had to go on extended sick leave in 2018 because he was suffering from crippling insomnia.

William and Harry have campaigned for years on the importance of speaking about mental illness and removing the stigma surrounding it.

Bradby says. ‘I later told them, “This made a big difference to me personally; the things you said made it easier for me to say to my employer, look I’m not well, I need to take three months off.” Before that, I genuinely thought, I cannot go into work because of a mental health issue, that’s ridiculous.’

Bradby adds: ‘I can remember thinking as I made the call to ITN, “I’m kind of OK to admit to this. I think them [Princes William and Harry] speaking out was a game-changer because of their immensely powerful position. Also, it’s just logic that they’ve had mental health issues due to their mum’s death — they’d be superhuman if they didn’t.’

Bradby established a warm relationship with the Princes as ITV’s royal correspondent and was asked to conduct the first interview with William and Kate Middleton after they announced their engagement in 2010

He was invited to their wedding at Westminster Abbey with his wife, Claudia, a jewellery designer, whose father was a vice-admiral in the Royal Navy.

His bond with Harry was so firm that he was asked to present a documentary on the Prince’s official visit to Africa last year in which Meghan voiced her unhappiness with life in the Royal Family. ‘Not many people have asked if I’m OK,’ she told him.