Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, felt she “deserved to be punished” when her marriage to Britain’s Prince Andrew failed.
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The duchess – whose divorce from Andrew was finalised in 1996, four years after they officially separated – believed she had “let the royal family down” and ended up piling on the pounds in weight and debts because she felt so “worthless”.
Sarah – who is now the face of the Weight Watchers weight-loss programme in the US – told Britain’s Hello! magazine: “I felt I deserved to be punished, because I was worthless. The real truth is that, having left the royal family I didn’t feel that I betrayed them, but that I had, from my perspective, let them down.
“So I was worthless; I got fat, I had debts, I got totally out of control with myself.
“What, besides Weight Watchers turned me around? I honestly don’t know. I think it was that I wouldn’t be defeated. My faith and inner core would not let the darkness beat me.”
However, the 48-year-old royal – who has two teenage daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, with Andrew – insists her former mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth, does not feel she betrayed the royal family.
She said: “There are still people who judge me harshly and feel I have let the monarchy down. If only they understood – Her Majesty doesn’t feel that. I know because Her Majesty is the most wonderful grandmother to my children and we meet in private. I could never have met a finer lady.”
