Sarah Ferguson has revealed her mastectomy has helped to get over ‘years’ of self-hatred from being compared to Princess Diana.
The Duchess of York, 63, revealed she’d been diagnosed with breast cancer and had undergone a successful single mastectomy at King Edward VII’s Hospital in London, earlier this year.
She has since been recovering at home at Royal Lodge, Windsor, where she lives with her ex-husband, despite splitting nearly 30 years ago.
Speaking on her final episode of the first series of her podcast Tea Talks, she said that looking back, she realises she had ‘good legs’ and ‘looked good’, but didn’t ‘like herself’.
‘That was because I think I was always compared to Diana and I think that at the end I sort of believed my own press which is, you know, not too good,’ Fergie explained.
However she said that she had found life after the operation had changed her point of view, adding she now ‘likes herself.’
Sarah Ferguson, 63, has revealed her mastectomy has helped to get over ‘years’ of self-hatred from being compared to Princess Diana
The duchess’s cancer nightmare began two months ago when a routine test first detected something was seriously wrong before the Coronation.
In early May, Sarah attended an appointment in London for a mammogram. Rather than being given the all-clear, as expected, the technician explained that a ‘shadow’ could be seen in the breast.
Given the size of the area, a lumpectomy was ruled out and Sarah was strongly advised to go ahead with a single mastectomy, which would eradicate the shadow of cancerous cells across the breast.
Sarah was said to be devastated but determined to press ahead with a mastectomy as soon as possible, telling friends she had ‘no choice’ but to go through with the operation.
The Duchess endured a punishing eight-hour operation as surgeons battled breast cancer.
During the discussion with her co-host Sarah Thomson, Fergie questioned whether having a ‘a body part cut off’ was something she needed ‘in order to wake up?’.
‘Not because of seeing death but waking up to stop worrying, stop self-hatred, stop self-doubt, stop all these things. Stop not liking yourself…’ she said.
After Sarah questioned if it had ‘taken that’ to get to a more confident place, Fergie said: ‘Yes, it did in my case’.
Speaking on the podcast, Fergie said that since her life after the operation, her self-esteem had been transformed
She said that since her life after the operation, her self-esteem had been transformed.
She explained: ‘You’ve got an enormous scar, but you like yourself….You like yourself a lot.’
‘You’ve got a badge of office, you just are what you are, and… of course the last thing that the Queen said to me [was]: ‘Just be yourself Sarah’.
‘And she saw it. She just got so annoyed when I wasn’t being myself. And that’s probably when I got into all the pickles.
‘But now I am myself and I’m just so lucky to be able to be myself.’
She continued: ‘I’m very lucky that my sister sent me to the mammogram because that was something which saved my life.’
The Duchess also spoke about how she had recovered since the operation, saying her reconstructed breast ‘Derek’ was doing ‘very well.’
She said she had started to return to a more active lifestyle over the summer, including walking while holidaying in Scotland to keep in shape as ‘at 63, you do need to do exercise.
Elsewhere, Fergie also spoke about meeting Prince Andrew when she was invited to Ascot by ‘best friend’ Diana.
Fergie and Diana met as teenagers and the pair were friends before they both entered the royal family, with Diana reportedly setting Fergie up with her former husband, Prince Andrew.
The Duchess explained how she had been terrified her dress was going to fall apart, but that Andrew teased her that it would have been ‘really rude’ not to eat an éclair.
She also claimed it was ‘rubbish’ Diana was interested in Andrew, adding: ‘Diana really always got on very well with him and I say that he’s certainly the best looking prince.’
Instead, she said she felt like ‘the luckiest person alive’ because she had become a princess when she married him.
She said: ‘I’m there and I’m still there and I still pinch myself and I still can’t believe that I’ve come at 63 to be in this extraordinarily lucky place.’
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