Diana tapes reveal battle with bulimia

AUDIO recordings of the late Princess Diana pouring her heart out, aired by US television network NBC television, reveal a troubled woman who was secretly wrestling with bulimia and thoughts of suicide.

“The public side was very different, obviously, from the private side,” Diana said on the 1991 tapes, recorded in secret by an intermediary for royal biographer Andrew Morton.

“The public side, they wanted a fairy princess to come, touch them and everything would turn into gold,” Diana said.

“Little did they realise that ... the individual (was) crucifying herself inside, because she didn’t think she was good enough.”

Diana’s battle with bulimia became a bit more public in 1986, when she fainted during a trip to Canada with Prince Charles. Publicly, officials blamed fatigue for the fainting spell, but in private, she said Charles was cross with her.

“My husband told me off,” she said. “He said I could have passed out quietly somewhere else, behind a door. It was all very embarrassing.”