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Princess Kate's brother, James Middleton, is opening up about his mental health struggles and how his sister and Prince William's ongoing mental health advocacy helped them better understand his deep depression.
In an excerpt of his upcoming book Meet Ella: The Dog Who Saved My Life, recently published in the Daily Mail, James Middleton discussed a period in his life when he suffered from a deep depression—what he referred to as as a moment when he existed "in a black and white world empty of emotion and feeling."
"I feel misunderstood; a complete failure. I wouldn’t wish the sense of worthlessness and desperation, the isolation and loneliness, on my worst enemy. I think I’m going crazy," James Middleton writes.
"Yet I know I am privileged; fortunate, too, to have a loving and close-knit family—Mum and Dad, my sisters Catherine and Pippa, their husbands William and James—but I push them all away," he explains. "I do not answer their phone calls. Emails remain ignored. Invitations to visit go unheeded. I hide behind a double-locked door, unreachable."
James went on to detail a moment in which he contemplated ending his own life, only to catch eyes with his dog, who he credits which saving his life.
Princess Kate's brother also detailed other various bouts with depression, including the days, weeks and months that followed the end of his relationship with Donna Air in 2017.
"I am grateful to Catherine and William, whose work in the field of mental health has given them valuable knowledge and understanding," Middleton writes. "My parents rely on them, and Pippa, to try to breach the impenetrable wall of my silence.
"Sometimes they do break through," he continues. "My sisters gently cajole me out of the flat now and again."
In a particularly poignant excerpt, James Middleton also touched on the stigma still associated with depression, especially when a person is affluent and by all accounts, privileged.
"I’ve read about depression, but I do not acknowledge I could have it. What can I possibly be depressed about?" he writes. "The idea that I could have problems with my mental health does not cross my mind."
Back in 2023, Prince William and Princess Kate spent time at the Open Door Charity to promote continued awareness and support for the needs of young people and their mental health.
"It was beautiful to speak candidly with people in the world that they inhabit," Lee Pennington, founder and director of Open Door Charity, told People at the time.
"And what came across loud and clear is that they care about, and value, the same things in the world that the people involved in this organization do," he continued. "They care deeply about 'how can we make this happen work better and make sure we are building the best to support people in what is the biggest health needs of our time—the mental health needs of young people. But boil it down, and they care about the same things that we do."
