Sarah Ferguson heartbreak as she explains how mother made her feel 'worthless'
The Duchess of York has revealed how a mastectomy helped her recover from a long period of self-loathing triggered by Princess Diana comparisons.
Sarah Ferguson, 63, underwent a single mastectomy surgery in June to treat her breast cancer following a shock diagnosis during a routine mammogram.
The eight-hour operation took place at London's King Edward VII's Hospital.
Speaking about the ordeal on her podcast - Tea Talks with the Duchess and Sarah - the mother-of-two has shared how the life-changing procedure actually helped her “stop worrying” and alleviated her “self-hatred”.
In the latest episode, she explained how she considered whether it took having “a body part cut off in order to wake up”.
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Sarah Ferguson underwent a single mastectomy surgery in June (Image: GETTY )
Ferguson said this is “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”.
Sarah Thomson, her close friend and show co-host, asked if it really “took that”.
Ferguson replied: “Yes, it did in my case”.
She added: “When I look back, OK... I got good legs and, you know, look good and didn’t like myself and 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.”
Ferguson admitted she was bothered by Princess Diana comparisons (Image: GETTY )
Describing life after the operation, she said: “You’ve got an enormous scar, but you like yourself.... 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.”
Ferguson is the ex-wife of disgraced royal Prince Andrew, 57.
Following her single mastectomy surgery, she revealed that she had chosen to nickname her reconstructed breast.
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The revelation came in an earlier episode of her podcast. Ferguson said that she was "still coming to terms with my new best friend", which she decided to call “Derek”.
When asked why she chose the name Derek, Fergie replied: “I don’t know, it just made me laugh that I have now a friend who’s with me all the time who’s protecting with his shield of armour.”
Fergie also shared that her right breast is called “Eric”.
She added: “Poor Eric on the right is feeling rather sad because he’s not as perky as Derek on the left, but I’ll get Eric balanced, don’t worry.”
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