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Prince William has said that people need to maintain a “toolbox” of techniques to nurture their mental health or else when “something massively changes” individuals “don’t have the experience to tackle it.”
The exchange has inevitably prompted speculation that William was referring to his mother’s death or his ongoing feud with his brother, but the new Prince of Wales was careful to keep the discussion, recorded with Kate Middleton, for BBC Radio 1, to generalities rather than specifics.
Presenter Pria Rai also recalled Tom Bradby’s famous “Are you OK?” question to Meghan Markle when she began the interview by asking, “How are you doing? No, really, how are you doing? It’s a simple enough question, but one that can spark a really meaningful conversation.”
William and Kate were joined for the special broadcast, a clip of which was released Tuesday morning and was due to be played in full later on Tuesday, by four young adults who have advocated for mental health supports.
Kate said: “One of the messages we are trying to encourage is the fact that everyone has mental health, and in the… same way we go to the gym, we need to look after and nurture our minds as well.”
William added, “Everyone likes a toolbox, particularly men. A toolbox is quite a useful analogy to use… A lot of people don’t realize what they need until it actually comes along. You can be living one life one minute and something massively changes and you realize you don’t necessarily have the tools or the experience to be able to tackle that.”
Antonio Ferreira, a mental health activist who was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager, said: “I know not every day is going to be roses and sunflowers… some days I’m going to have to push against the clouds to see that sun again. On your bad day, what you have to remember is to remain humble and stay hopeful. Because after bad the good follows, and after good bad follows, after night comes day, after day comes night... Hold onto that hope.”