The princess and depression

Mexico City - When Princess Diana decided to give an interview to BBC's Martin Bashir in 1995, she talked and talked about everything. At the time it all seemed to be a real time soap opera that, as she herself noted in that talk, she thought that her revelations would not generate much sympathy, how could it be so? She had it all, didn't she? And it's true, as much affection as one had for the character, she had already gotten her "And they lived happily ever after" and then made it clear that there is no such thing. Neither for princesses, nor for all of us commoners. But there's a much bigger issue that wasn't discussed as it should have been at the time: depression and what it's really like to deal with mental health issues. It doesn't matter if you're in the most visible glass sideboard in the world or in the fetal position in your bed not wanting to move from there. That monster needs to be understood and cared for, not judged.

Why now? Because in the recently released fifth season of The Crown (Netflix) we see the extraordinary work of Elizabeth Debieki playing Diana in those moments, and recreating the reasons why she decided to talk about such issues, matters that neither in the royal family nor in most families are discussed. Also, we can't help but point to the fact that last year Bashir was finally officially exposed for having created false documents to convince Diana that she couldn't trust anyone but him. Whether or not she would have given that interview in spite of that, we don't know. But he had to retire from Britain's most prestigious media last year after several investigations into the matter. The BBC returned all the awards won for it and offered apologies to the princes and the Spencer family.

The manipulation of this reporter, however, is relevant and should be talked about precisely because we need journalistic institutions we can still believe in. And much more importantly, because the revelations about terrible postpartum depression, bulimia and yes, the admission that the now King Charles was always unfaithful to Camilla Parker Bowles are now only talked about as part of the narrative. And no. It can't and shouldn't be.