This is what Prince Harry said about dad Charles and ‘genetic pain’ in tell-all interview

Prince Harry has spoken out about his ‘wild’ behaviour as a teenager, and why he wants to avoid passing ‘genetic pain’ on to his children in an interview with Dax Shepard on the actor’s Armchair Expert podcast.

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During the 90-minute conversation, the Duke of Sussex - who is father to Archie, 2, and is expecting a daughter - said his mother had a “huge” impact on him. 

The prince added that he wouldn’t “point the finger, but that he had experienced difficulties, “because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered”. 

So what else did Harry say in his Dax Shepherd interview - and what did he mean by ‘genetic pain’?

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What did Harry say about ‘genetic pain’? 

Harry described his own upbringing as a "mixture between The Truman Show and being in a zoo", adding that by his mid-20s he no longer wanted to be a member of the royal family’s “operation.”

He told host Dax Shepard: "I don't think we should be pointing the finger or blaming anybody, but certainly when it comes to parenting, if I've experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, I'm going to make sure I break that cycle so that I don't pass it on.

"It's a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway so we as parents should be doing the most we can to try and say, 'You know what, that happened to me, I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen to you’.'"

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Harry said he was aware of his privilege, and how it had given him the most “unbelievable front row seat”, as travelling the Commonwealth allowed him to witness others’ pain and suffering and develop empathy. 

He now hopes to help others through his new docu-series ‘The Me You Can’t See’ produced with Oprah Winfrey,  which debuts on 21 May, on Apple TV.

He told Shepard he feels “more comfortable being able to discuss my own struggles now, because I do it to help other people.” 

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He added: “When you have suffered, you don’t want others to suffer. If helping other people helps you get the fix that you need, then happy days.”

Harry said attending therapy in the past few years helped “the bubble burst” and he is now aware of the implications his parents’ suffering had on him. 

He said: “I never saw it, I never knew about it, and then suddenly I started to piece it together and go 'okay, so this is where he went to school, this is what happened, I know this about his life, I also know that is connected to his parents so that means he's treated me the way he was treated, so how can I change that for my own kids?'”

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