Kate Middleton's brother James shares health battle and says he 'pushed her away'
James Middleton has candidly shared his mental health struggles in his memoir 'Meet Ella: The Dog Who Saved My Life', revealing that he distanced himself from his sister Catherine Middleton during his darkest hours. The 37 year old entrepreneur, who attributes his late dog Ella as his saving grace, confessed to being on the verge of suicide but would not even answer calls from the royal, 42, or their family.
In his deeply personal book, James penned: "I contemplate ways of dying so I can get off the giddy roller-coaster that is sending me to the brink of madness. I cannot sleep because my mind is in tumult. The insomnia is dizzying. I am utterly exhausted.
"I feel misunderstood; a complete failure. I wouldn't wish the sense of worthlessness and desperation, the isolation and loneliness, on my worst enemy. I think I'm going crazy. Yet I know I am privileged; fortunate, too, to have a loving and close-knit family - Mum and Dad, my sisters Catherine and Pippa, their husbands William and James - but I push them all away.
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"I do not answer their phone calls. Emails remain ignored. Invitations to visit go unheeded. I hide behind a double-locked door, unreachable."
Despite his battles, James, whose sister is married to Prince William and mother to Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, found comfort in his beloved pet Ella, who he says saved him time and again, reports the Mirror.
He confided: "I haul myself back from the brink, slowly climb down the ladder and stroke Ella's silky head. She is the reason I do not take that fatal leap. She is Ella, the dog who saved my life."
James had lovingly talked about his black spaniel - who sadly passed away in January 2023, aged 15, after battling illness - and how she seemed attuned to his troubles, attempting to "encourage" him in her own way.
In a heart-to-heart with OK! Magazine, James reminisced: "My dog Ella, in particular, was my reason to get up in the morning, my reason to get dressed and go outside and go for a walk - even if it was pouring with rain".
He recalled, "You go outside for 10 or 15 minutes, get that fresh air and you suddenly forget what was traumatising you."
Detailing the reprieve afforded by Ella he added, "That respite from the thing that was banging away in my mind and causing me to not function properly was unintentionally helped by Ella and the rest of my dogs."
Reflecting on Ella's sensitivity during his struggle, he expressed: "I think Ella knew that I was not functioning to my full capacity and she was trying to give little encouraging signs to look after myself because I had a responsibility to look after her too. I do think [the dogs] played such an important role to the point that I do think they saved my life."