In Andrew Morton’s 1997 biography ‘Diana: Her True Story – In Her Own Words’, the Princess of Wales had said: “My husband (Prince Charles) put his hand on my waistline and said: ‘Oh, a bit chubby here, aren’t we?’ and that triggered off something in me.” (Source: AP)

The fourth season of the hit Netflix show The Crown — which depicts the inner world of the British Royal Family — will show the struggles of the late Prince Diana with bulimia, which is essentially a life-threatening eating disorder. In the fourth season, viewers will finally be introduced to Diana, who was considered to be the ‘People’s Princess’, and learn about her equation with the royal family and her husband Prince Charles.

According to The Independent, Diana’s entry into the royal family was believed to have been a fairy tale-come-true. But the show is going to explore the many other facets of her life, including the fact that behind the scenes, she was suffering from low self-esteem and an unhappy marriage that may have led to the eating disorder.

The outlet further mentions that in Andrew Morton’s 1997 biography ‘Diana: Her True Story – In Her Own Words‘, the Princess of Wales had said: “My husband (Prince Charles) 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… the first time I was measured for my wedding dress, I was 29 inches around the waist. The day I got married, I was 23½ inches. I had shrunk into nothing from February to July.”

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In fact, Diana had also spoken about it with journalist Martin Bashir in 1995, for BBC One’s Panorama. She had admitted that she had bulimia “for a number of years”, and had described it as a “secret disease”, “a symptom of what was going on in my marriage”.

“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,” she had said.

The Independent report mentions that Left Bank Pictures — the production company working on The Crown — said in a statement: “The producers worked closely with [eating disorder charity] ‘Beat’ to ensure that their portrayal of Princess Diana’s bulimia in season four was both accurate to the disorder and sensitively handled.”