Prince William makes personal confession about 'difficult' struggle with his kids amid mental health 'crisis'
The Prince of Wales has been candid about his own mental healthPrince William has opened up about his three kids and how they express their emotions to him.
The Prince of Wales, 43, has made an appearance on a special episode of BBC Radio 1’s Life Hacks programme.
William joined a panel to discuss male mental health and suicide. The prince opened up candidly about his own mental health, explaining that he takes a “long time trying to understand my emotions”.
Prince William makes confession about mental health in BBC Radio 1 appearance
During the panel discussion, hosted by Greg James, William admitted: “I take a long time trying to understand my emotions and why I feel like I do, and I feel like that’s a really important process to do every now and again, to check in with yourself and work out why you’re feeling like you do.
“Sometimes there’s an obvious explanation, sometimes there isn’t. I think that idea that mental health crisis is temporary – you can have a strong mental health crisis moment but it will pass.”
William’s struggle with his kids
William was asked if his children, Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, seven, open up about their emotions too.
The prince quipped: “Yes, sometimes too much.”
I take a long time trying to understand my emotions.
He added: “I get all the details, which I love. It’s amazing. Being able to understand it, have time with it, decipher it, sometimes.
“You feel a sense that you need to fix it for everyone and that I find quite difficult. I have to remind myself that you don’t need to fix everything but you need to listen and it’s important to be ok with those feelings and comments.”
‘You have to talk about your emotions’
The future king went on to express the importance of supporting the next generation in understanding their emotions.
He said: “For the next generation, understanding emotions is ok. You’re going to have uncomfortable emotions and really great emotions, there’s a huge spectrum in between.
“My understanding, learning about mental health through my journey, has been about understanding why the previous generations didn’t talk about it.
“They kept to themselves and handed that mantle onto the next generation, not deliberately, but that’s all they knew.”
However, William has encouraged the younger generation to “break that cycle”.
He insisted: “You have to talk about your emotions, you can’t just bottle them up and pretend they don’t exist because that’s when it all goes wrong.”
The Prince and Princess of Wales have been open about their parenting and the decisions they make for the sake of their kids.
One parenting choice they’ve made is to do with mobile phones.
Speaking to Eugene Levy on his show, The Reluctant Traveler, last year, William said: “None of our children have any phones, which we’re very strict about.”
Read more: Fresh claims made over Prince Harry’s allegations of ‘physical altercation’ with William
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, contact The Samaritans on 116 123. They are available for free at any time.
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