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Kate and Pippa Middleton Joined Their Brother James's Therapy When He Was Struggling With Depression

Photo credit: IAN WEST - Getty Images
Photo credit: IAN WEST - Getty Images

From Town & Country

James Middleton, brother to Kate, has long been open about his past struggles with mental health. But in a new interview, while discussing how he'd overcome them, James revealed something new: that his whole family, even the Duchess of Cambridge, had helped with his recovery.

During his near-year in cognitive behavioral therapy, James said his family joined some of his appointments. "And that was actually, a very, very big thing," he explained to the Telegraph. When asked if that included Kate, he nodded.

"All of them," James said. "Not necessarily at the same time, but either individually and [sometimes] together. And that was so important because that helped them understand me and how my mind was working. And I think the way the therapy helped me was that I didn’t need my family to say, 'What can we do?' The only thing they could do was just come to some of the therapy sessions to start to understand."

Photo credit: Karwai Tang - Getty Images
Photo credit: Karwai Tang - Getty Images

James found it hard to talk to his family about his mental health prior to taking them to the sessions, it seems. But that doesn't mean they weren't involved, and concerned. "My mother will see how much I’m eating and know that there’s something wrong," James said. "She’ll see the way that I look at her and know there’s something wrong. It’s the same with all my family. We are very close. And I think that can be… a challenge. And I do remember feeling that I almost had to say to them, 'I’ll be back, but this is a process and it’s going to take time for me to recover.'"

Now, happily, James says he's "pinching" himself about how lucky he is, having successfully overcome his depression, and just announced his engagement to his girlfriend of just over a year, Alizee Thevenet.

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