Prince Harry Opens Up About Therapy, ‘Smothering’ His Kids and More: Revelations From His Dr. Gabor Mate Interview

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Prince Harry Opens Up About Therapy, 'Smothering' His Kids and More: Revelations From His Dr. Gabor Mate Interview

Opening up. Prince Harry sat down with Dr. Gabor Maté for a special livestream on Saturday, March 4, to promote his memoir, Spare. The therapist asked the Duke of Sussex, 40, about accusations that he is playing the victim. "I certainly don’t see myself as a victim," Harry said. "I’m really grateful to be able to share my story in the hope that it will help, empower, encourage others. ... And hopefully, let people understand that again, back to this human experience that we all in some shape or form, [are] all connected, especially through trauma." Spare was released in January and made headlines with all of Harry's bombshell revelations. From funny anecdotes about his frostbitten penis to heartbreaking passages about how he thought Princess Diana would one day appear and reveal she faked her death, he held nothing back as he dove into why his upbringing in the royal family left him with childhood trauma and how therapy helped him find happiness as an adult. He hopes that his debut book helps others find the courage to work on their own mental health. [jwplayer lXgXNx0e-zhNYySv2] "For me, the experiences that I've had throughout my childhood, throughout my life, throughout my 38 years, albeit relatively short — I'm not looking forward to becoming 40, that's for sure — but through those experiences and through the work that I have done for two decades now around mental health and mental illness, I've always felt as though sharing whatever I can of my story will help someone or some people out there," Harry explained. The England native alleged that The Firm works with the British press to leak stories — some true and some false — to fit the narrative they want. For the BetterUp CIO, Spare allowed him to set the record straight and tell his side of his own story. "There are people who have shared things of my life, outside my control, be it true or false. But to be able to share the things of my life that I think are important, for other people, it does, it feels good. But to me, it feels like an act of service," he said, emphasizing that he hopes readers will be encouraged to try therapy. The military veteran, who married Meghan Markle in 2019, would like King Charles III and Prince William to try counseling. Harry explained that working with a therapist taught him a “new language and the people that I was surrounded by, they didn’t speak that language.” So, he “did the thing of trying to encourage everyone [in his family] to do it," per The Times. Scroll down for revelations from his interview with Maté:

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Psychedelic Drugs

Harry opened up about the benefits of marijuana and psychedelic drug ayahuasca. He explained that using the hallucinogenic tea “was the cleaning of the windshield, removal of life’s filters. It removed it all for me and brought me a sense of relaxation, release, comfort, a lightness that I managed to hold onto for a period of time."

He continued: “For me I started doing it recreationally and then started to realize how good it was for me. I would say it is one of the fundamental parts of my life that changed me and helped me deal with the traumas and the pains of the past.”

The author previously opened up about doing mushrooms with Courteney Cox in Spare, recalling a hallucination about a talking toilet. He also wrote about trying cocaine, but noted that he didn't feel it was a beneficial substance. 

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Meghan Saved Him

“People have said my wife saved me. I was stuck in this world. She was from a different world and helped draw me out of that," Harry said. "But none of the elements of my life now would have been possible without me seeing it for myself. ... My partner is an exceptional human being and I'm eternally grateful for the wisdom and the space that she has been able to give me."

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He Worried Therapy Would Distance Him From Princess Diana

Harry put off starting therapy because he worried that it would take away the feeling of his mother's spirit. 

"One of the things I was most scared about was losing the feeling that I had of my mom. I thought that if I went to therapy that it would cure me, and that I would lose whatever I had left, whatever ... I had managed to hold onto of my mother. And it turns out it wasn’t the case, I didn't lose that," he told Maté. "It was the opposite. I turned what I thought was supposed to be sadness, to try to prove to her that I missed her, into realizing that actually, she really just wanted me to be happy. And that was a huge weight off my chest."

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Harry Will 'Smother' His Kids

The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture author asked about the distant relationship between Harry and Charles, recalling how Harry wasn't hugged or held after learning Diana died in a 1997 car crash. 

"Where does it leave me? It leaves me in the position now as a father, with two kids of my own, making sure I smother them with love and affection," Harry explained. "Not smother them to the point where they're trying to get away, and I'm like, ‘No come here, I need to hug you,' but in the sense that — you know, I, as a father feel a huge responsibility to ensure that I don't pass on any traumas or any negative experiences that I've had as a kid or as a man growing up, and that's work."

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An ADD Diagnosis

Maté offered Harry an official diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. “Whether you like it or not, I have diagnosed you with ADD. You can agree or disagree,” the Canada native said. “I don’t see it as a disease. I see it as a normal response to abnormal stress.”

Harry, meanwhile, revealed he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder by his own therapist, who said it was triggered by the death of his mother. “It didn’t feel great when I was told I had PTSD.”