LONDON: Sarah Ferguson has described a series of devastating personal losses as a “wake-up call” that fundamentally changed her outlook on life after years in the public eye as the Duchess of York.
In an interview with The Observer in 2002, Ferguson reflected on a difficult period marked by grief and personal struggle, including issues with food and an eating disorder. She was speaking while visiting Sierra Leone in her role with the charity Children in Crisis.
At the time, Ferguson was rebuilding her public life following her 1996 divorce from Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. She had stepped back from royal duties and focused on humanitarian work, while also becoming a public ambassador for Weight Watchers in the United States.
She also spoke about her close relationship with her daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.
Ferguson said the deaths of her mother, Susan Barrantes, her close friend Carolyn Cotterell, and Princess Diana within a few years forced her to reassess her life.
Cotterell, who had introduced her to Andrew, died of cancer in 1999. Princess Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997, while Ferguson’s mother died in a car accident in Argentina in 1998.
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She said the sequence of losses had a lasting impact, ultimately leading her to focus more on family, charity work, and finding purpose beyond royal life.
