The Duke of Sussex has gotten personal about his mental health struggles in a surprise appearance at the inaugural Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco last week.
According to its website, the invite-only summit would “ immerse the most forward-thinking, fast-scaling business leaders in an environment designed to cultivate innovation, acceleration, and co-elevation,” and was “unlike any other gathering of the year”.
Sharing the stage with BetterUp’s Alexi Robixhaux and entrepreneur Reid Hoffman, the 38-year-old got candid about his journey with therapy, admitting that it was never a service he had been able to easily access prior to leaving the royal family in March 2020.
“I have a coach. I wish I had two,” the father of two admitted onstage, as quoted by Financial Times correspondent David Lee on Twitter.
WATCH NOW: Prince Harry talks mental health in the UK
Prince Harry attended the event as part of his position as Chief Impact Officer for BetterUp, a San Francisco-based company that works with employees on coaching and mental health services.
In 2021, Harry wrote in a blog post that he joined BetterUp because he believes in the company’s mission of being proactive about mental health.
“Being attuned with your mind, and having a support structure around you, are critical to finding your own version of peak performance,” he wrote.
As recently as February this year, Harry also stated on a live stream for BetterUp that he meditated on a regular basis to maintain his mental health.
The live appearance follows on from his May 2021 docuseries “The Me You Can’t See” with Oprah Winfrey which dove deep into mental health in the monarchy.
“It was only when a couple of people close to me started to say, ‘This isn’t normal behaviour, perhaps you should look into this, or perhaps you should go and seek help,’” Harry recalled. “Now immediately, I was like, ‘I don’t need help.’”
Harry said his late 20s, specifically ages 28 to 30, were a “nightmare” period for him. That time was plagued with anxieties and exhaustion due to royal duties.
Then, in his early 30s, he met his future wife. He said it was the former actress who encouraged him to seek therapy.
“It was meeting and being with Meghan [Markle], I knew that if I didn’t do therapy and fix myself, that I was going to lose this woman who I could see spending the rest of my life with,” he said.
“That was the start of a learning journey for me,” he continued. “I became aware that I’d been living in a bubble, within this family, within this institution, I was sort of almost trapped in a thought process or a mindset.
In the same month, Harry also appeared on Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert, attributing his extensive mental health issues to the ineffective parenting style of previous generations and to the “genetic pain and suffering” passed down in his family.
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