Prince William was apparently so anxious about what his brother Prince Harry and sister-in-law Meghan Markle might say in their interview with Oprah Winfrey that he was unable to eat for a week before the interview aired, the Mirror reported.

William was worried sick in the days leading up to the bomb interview in March 2021, said Charlotte Griffiths, editor-in-chief of the Mail on Sunday.

"What was very surprising to me, and I had heard this from various sources before, is that leading up to that Oprah interview, William was literally sick with worry," she said on Dan Wootton's GB News program. 'He wasn't eating, he wasn't quite a hermit, but he was certainly hiding. He went to a royal mansion for a time to distance himself from the world. He was basically just in a daze."

Harry and Meghan told Winfrey that, among other revelations, members of the royal family had asked about the color of Prince Archie's skin, which had not yet been born. After this interview, the palace issued a statement two days later that included the now iconic passage, "Recollections may vary. Marie Claire recently reported that Princess Kate, in particular, had fought adamantly for the inclusion of this strongly worded passage; according to the Mirror, it was William who created the phrase, but it was Kate who pushed for it to be used in the final draft.

"And what Kate was doing was taking his side," Griffiths says. Kate said, 'I have to take this man's side and protect him. He is going to be destroyed by this. But when it comes to protecting her husband, she steps in and tries to protect him."

Since Oprah's interview, the Sussexes have continued to target William in particular in various interviews, in the Netflix six-part documentary Harry & Meghan, and in Harry's memoir, Spare.