Princess Diana’s bulimia battle depicted in a new children’s book that explains she developed an eating disorder when she learned her husband’s heart ‘belonged to someone else’
Princess Diana’s battle with bulimia has been outlined in a new children’s book that tackles the topic of eating disorders.
A new book in the Little People series, Big Dreams, to be published on September 7, will tell young readers about the popular princess, loved by millions around the world, and her life in the royal family.
As the children’s book, written by María Isabel Sánchez Vegara, describes Diana’s life and the private suffering she faced, it will describe her fight against bulimia and how it manifested itself.
The book will describe how Diana’s eating disorder developed when she learned that her husband, King Charles, was in love with another woman. One line in the text reads: “She soon realized that the prince’s heart belonged to someone else… Over time, that sadness turned into an eating disorder called bulimia.”
Princess Diana first spoke about her eating disorder in 1995 during a now-controversial BBC Panorama interview with Martin Bashir. In the same interview, she revealed that she had harmed herself in the years after she and Charles separated from her.
A new children’s book in the Little People series, Big Dreams shows Princess Diana battling bulimia while dealing with her sadness at learning her husband was in love with someone else.
She told the disgraced journalist: “I was coming home and it would be very difficult to know how to comfort myself after having been comforting so many other people, so it would be a regular pattern to jump into the fridge.”
Diana added that the eating disorder was a “symptom” of the marital problems she had been having, arguing that she was “crying out for help” but did not receive the support she needed, instead being branded as “unstable”.
The Telegraph reports that the new children’s book will detail how Diana would find time alone to go into the royal kitchens and eat a lot of cake to try to feel a sense of comfort. However, when the feeling wore off, she would get sick.
Eating disorder activists have said the book’s content can help young people identify the signs of bulimia more quickly, but cautioned that the problem must be approached sensitively.
The late mother of two revealed her battle with bulimia in a now-controversial 1995 BBC Panorama interview with disgraced journalist Martin Bashir.
Tom Quinn, director of external affairs at the eating disorder charity Beat, told the paper: “We advise writers to avoid going into detail about disordered eating behaviours, calories or weight as this can worsen the symptoms of someone not feeling well or contributing to an eating disorder. developing disorder if someone is vulnerable.’
In 2017, Diana’s friends opened up about the late princess’s battle with bulimia, which had been sparked by concerns about Charles’ relationship with Camilla, in addition to ongoing worries that her children would be taken from her.
Former ballet teacher Anne Allan revealed that Diana opened her heart to her, revealing that her husband’s affair with Camilla made her feel “very sad, devastated” and that it “wasn’t enough”.
Mrs. Allan told the sunday express: ‘I know that she asked Camila to leave her husband alone. I thought she was pretty brave of her actually because I know how much it must have taken her to do that.’
He also noted that Diana had lost weight, and the princess later revealed that she had bulimia.
Dr Colthurst, who has known Diana since she was 17, said the eating disorder was having a worrying effect on her.
He said: ‘You could see her physically fade away. It was clear to all who knew her that bulimia was a reaction to the circumstances in which she found herself.
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