According to a new book, Princess Diana opened up to her dance instructor, former London ballet dancer Anne Allan, about her eating disorder.
Allan is detailing her history with the late princess, who died in a fatal 1997 car crash at the age of 36, in her new memoir, Dancing With Diana. According to a Wednesday, September 4, excerpt in People, Diana had confided in Allen about her struggles with bulimia.
“Her head dropped and, unable to look me in the eye, she said, ‘I am so ashamed, Anne, but I need to tell you that I suffer from bulimia,’” Allan wrote. “Her shame was evidently painful for her.”
According to Allan, Diana profusely apologized for hiding her struggles “until now.”
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“Diana explained that her bulimia had started when she had started attending important functions, particularly dinners where she had to sit down to eat,” Allan recalled. “Meeting so many people was terrifying to her and the feeling that she was being judged with every move she made or how she looked or what she said caused her to feel totally inadequate.”
Diana, per Allan, would continue to resort to “the cycle of bulimia” through the years despite slowly growing in confidence.
“Understanding the disease was the way forward, I told her, adding that finding ways not to judge herself would come in time,” Allan wrote.
Diana first detailed her battle with bulimia while recording tapes for Andrew Morton’s bombshell 1992 biography.
“The bulimia started the week after we got engaged and would take nearly a decade to overcome,” Diana had claimed in a recording. “My husband [King Charles III] put his hand on my waistline and said: ‘Oh, a bit chubby here, aren’t we?’ and that triggered off something in me —and the Camilla thing.”
Three years later, Diana confirmed her eating disorder during a 1995 interview on BBC’s Panorama.
“I had bulimia for a number of years. And that’s like a secret disease,” she recalled. “You inflict it upon yourself because your self-esteem is at a low ebb, and you don’t think you’re worthy or valuable. You fill your stomach up four or five times a day—some do it more — and it gives you a feeling of comfort. It’s like having a pair of arms around you, but it’s temporarily, temporary. Then you’re disgusted at the bloatedness of your stomach, and then you bring it all up again.”
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According to Diana, she opted against telling other members of the royal family out of shame.
“You have to know that when you have bulimia you’re very ashamed of yourself and you hate yourself — and people think you’re wasting food — so you don’t discuss it with people,” Diana said at the time. “The thing about bulimia is your weight always stays the same, whereas with anorexia you visibly shrink. So you can pretend the whole way through. There’s no proof.”
Diana married King Charles III in 1981 when he was still the Prince of Wales. Throughout their marriage, she was infamously jealous of his bond with ex-girlfriend Queen Camilla (then Camilla Parker Bowles). Charles, 75, and Camilla, 76, ultimately had an affair before the now-king and Diana separated.
Diana died one year after her divorce from Charles — with whom she shared sons Prince William, now 42, and Prince Harry, now 39 — was finalized.
Dancing With Diana: A Memoir will be published on Tuesday, September 10.
If you or someone you know struggles with an eating disorder, visit the National Alliance for Eating Disorders website or call their hotline at +1 (866) 662-1235. Text “ALLIANCE” to 741741 for free, 24/7 support.
