Princess Mette-Marit
She speaks for the first time about her therapy experience
Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Princess Mette-Marit
© Dana Press
As a teenager, Princess Mette-Marit had to see a therapist. A more than unpleasant experience, as she has now revealed in a Norwegian documentary.
Whether Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, 46, or most recently Crown Princess Amalia of the Netherlands, 19: Many well-known royals from Europe have spoken publicly about their mental problems and mental illnesses in recent years. Prince Harry, 39, even had himself filmed during a therapy session in 2021.
Now Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, 50, is also opening up. In the third part of the “TV 2” documentary “Kronprinsparet – vårt Norge” (German: “The Crown Prince Couple – Our Norway”) she talks about the suicide of her brother-in-law Ari Behn , †47, and reveals that she attended therapy sessions as a teenager.
Princess Mette-Marit in therapy – as are her sister-in-law and niece
Princess Mette-Marit has been committed to the mental health of the Norwegian people for more than 20 years and has been patron of “Rådet for psykisk helse”, the Norwegian Council for Mental Health, since 2001. However, no one could prepare her for what her family would face on Christmas Day. In 2019, her brother-in-law Ari Behn took his own life.
His daughter Maud Angelica Behn, 20, tried to come to terms with the difficult loss with the help of therapy and self-help groups. His ex-wife Princess Märtha Louise, 52, also sought therapeutic help at a young age to find herself. The public pressure on the princess was too great. Both women have spoken about this in magazines.
Ari Behn’s suicide sparked “conflicting feelings.”
Princess Mette-Marit is now also seizing the opportunity. She calls for more acceptance of the fact that many people are going through a difficult time and need help. In general, there is still not enough talk about mental health.
Mette-Marit remembers her brother-in-law’s suicide and tries to summarize her emotional state at the time as follows: “It’s really a very strange grief. It was very shocking, and there are a lot of contradictory feelings. Our whole family was very affected afterwards.” she was quoted by the Norwegian newspaper “Dagbladet”.
Mette-Marit’s therapist didn’t see her as a person: “Incredibly difficult”
In the course of this, she also talks about her own therapy experiences – which were not so successful. Because when she was a teenager, Mette-Marit had a therapist who didn’t understand her. This is not an uncommon problem; many people have to look for a suitable expert for a longer period of time.
Crown Prince Haakon’s wife, 50, explains: “When I was young, I had a phase in which I went to a psychologist, but he didn’t see me as a person.” It wasn’t a good fit between people. This fact was “incredibly difficult” for her at the time. It is not clear whether she ever sought therapeutic help again, but this much: Mental illness should never be a taboo topic again.
Sources used: dagbladet.no, play.tv2.no