Duchess: fame is tough for a new mother
Documentary reveals recent struggles with the spotlight amid legal action over newspaper article
THE Duchess of Sussex has spoken of her struggles as a new mother in the spotlight, saying: “Not many people have asked if I’m OK.”
The Duchess, who appears emotional during a trailer for a documentary about the Sussexes’ tour to Africa, said pregnancy was a “really vulnerable” time as she admitted the scrutiny of public life had been “really challenging”. In an interview with Tom Bradby, a friend of the Duke, she said: “It’s a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes.”
The Duke has previously spoken about the impact of tabloid press criticism on his wife, claiming it amounted to “relentless propaganda” against her.
She is suing The Mail on Sunday over the publication of extracts of a letter she wrote by hand to her father, with court papers alleging she was “deeply shocked and upset” and suffered “considerable distress, damage, humiliation and embarrassment”.
Her legal team claim that the newspaper suppressed parts of the letter which show the Duchess’s “kindness and concern about the UK media exploiting her father”.
In an ITV documentary, to be broadcast at 9pm tomorrow, the Duchess appears to be controlling her tears as she agrees with Bradby’s suggestion that it has “really been a struggle”.
Asked about the pressure on her mental and physical health, she said: “Look, any woman especially when they are pregnant you’re really vulnerable and so that was made really challenging, and then when you have a newborn, you know…
“And especially as a woman, it’s a lot. So you add this on top of just trying to be a new mum or trying to be a newlywed… it’s a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes.”
Earlier this week, in a clip from the same programme Prince Harry told how camera flashbulbs take him “straight back” to his mother’s death, as he spoke of the trauma of his childhood as a “wound that festers”.
Papers filed by Schillings, the legal firm in the Duchess’s claim against the Mail on Sunday, show it will argue that she saw her “deepest and most private thoughts and feelings about her relationship with her father” published “to the world at large... without any warning”.
It will also suggest that the story, which included an assessment by a “socalled handwriting expert” that the Duchess was a “showman and a narcissist” , was part of an “obvious agenda of publishing intrusive or negative stories... intended to portray her in a false and damaging light”. The Duchess is seeking unspecified damages relating to a claim of breach of copyright, data protection and privacy under the European Convention on Human Rights. Copyright arguments will centre on the letter being an “original literary work”. Meanwhile, legal papers illustrate the claim that sections were “cherry-picked” with an image of the redacted parts.
“The claimant has been deeply shocked and upset by the defendant’s deliberate and blatant distortion and manipulation of the true sentiment of her letter, (the privacy of which had already been violated by the defendant)”, the papers state.
“However, as the claimant is also distressed to realise, this is wholly consistent with the defendant’s obvious agenda of publishing intrusive or offensive stories about the claimant intended to portray her in a false and damaging light.”
A Mail on Sunday spokesman has previously said the newspaper “stands by the story it published”.
The spokesman said that it will be defending the case vigorously.