Almost three decades on since the world was forced to bid a tragic farewell to the late Princess Diana, her former dance teacher, Anne Allan, has lifted the lid on on the royal’s battle with bulimia in her new book Dancing With Diana
Princess Diana suffered with bulimia for much of her royal life, with her troubles first starting shortly after her wedding (
Image: Getty)
Nearly 30 years since the world said a heartbreaking goodbye to Princess Diana, her former dance instructor, Anne Allan, has revealed the royal’s struggle with bulimia in her new book Dancing With Diana.
In an excerpt from the book published in People on Wednesday, September 4, Allan recalls how Diana confided in her about her battle 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 apologised profusely for not revealing her struggles sooner as she opened up about how the illness had been slowly consuming her life.
“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 remembered. “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,” reports the Express.
Princess Diana’s battle with bulimia started when she joined the royal family and needed to attend high profile meetings (
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(Image: Getty))
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“Understanding the disease was the way forward, I told her, adding that finding ways not to judge herself would come in time,” Allan penned.
Diana first publicly acknowledged her fight with bulimia in 1992, during recordings for Andrew Morton’s explosive biography about her life.
The Princess had once revealed in a recording, “The bulimia started the week after we got engaged and would take nearly a decade to overcome. My husband 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.”
It wasn’t until three years later that Diana would publicly acknowledge her struggle with an eating disorder during a candid 1995 interview on BBC’s Panorama.
“I had bulimia for a number of years. And that’s like a secret disease,” she shared. “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.”
An off the cuff remark by then-Prince Charles reportedly sparked Diana’s battle with Bulimia (
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(Image: Getty))
Throughout her prolonged fight with the devastating condition, Diana chose to keep the Royal family in the dark due to feelings 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 explained. “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.”
Princess Diana tied the knot with Charles, who was then the Prince of Wales, in 1981. The couple had two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, during their tumultuous marriage. However, a devastating scandal emerged when it was revealed that Charles, now the King, had an affair with his ex-lover and current wife, Queen Camilla.
Deeply hurt by the infidelity, Diana decided to part ways with Charles and they officially divorced in 1996. Tragically, just a year later, the Princess died in a car crash in Paris.