Harry and Oprah will host ANOTHER Apple TV+ show on FRIDAY as follow-up to mental health documentary

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Prince Harry and Oprah Winfrey will reunite again this Friday to revisit their Apple TV+ documentary about mental health with a virtual follow-up discussion.

The Duke of Sussex will speak to Oprah and other celebrities involved in the series including actress Glenn Close and singer Lady Gaga as they reveal more about their stories in ‘The Me You Can’t See: A Path Forward’.

It comes after Apple said the series, which began streaming last Friday, had brought a 25 per cent rise in new viewers to the platform and a more than 40 per cent increase in average weekend viewership in the UK last week.

This Friday’s follow-up, described by Reuters as a ‘virtual town hall’, will reunite health experts and celebrities, athletes and others who spoke about their struggles with depression, schizophrenia and anxiety in the series.

The documentary, called ‘The Me You Can’t See’, saw Harry speak at length about the trauma of his mother Princess Diana’s death, his concern for wife Meghan Markle and the reaction by other Royal Family members.

The show was also widely watched in Canada, Australia, Germany, Brazil and other countries, Apple said. It is not yet clear whether Harry will speak more about his own mental health struggles in this Friday’s programme.

‘The Me You Can’t See’ project marked Harry’s first foray into television production since he and Meghan, formally known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, quit their royal duties and moved to California last year.

Apple TV+ said the virtual episode this Friday would feature some of those who were interviewed offering further insight into their stories and guidance from experts. 

Other notable participants in the documentary included NBA basketball players DeMar DeRozan and Langston Galloway, boxer Virginia ‘Ginny’ Fuchs, and celebrity chef Rashad Armstead.

News of this Friday’s programme was released by Reuters and Associated Press simultaneously at 1.16pm today.

About half an hour later at 1.49pm, the Sussexes’s trusted media partner Omid Scobie, who is the royal editor at Harper’s Bazaar, tweeted: ‘Millions have already streamed #TheMeYouCantSee, and now @AppleTV confirm that @Oprah and Prince Harry are following up the series with a ‘town hall-style conversation’ special. 

‘A Path Forward will be available from May 28 and offers further insight from guests and their stories.’

During the documentary, Harry once again lambasted the parenting skills of the Prince of Wales, criticising his father for expecting his sons to endure the pressures of royal life, just as Charles has done, instead of protecting them.

Harry criticised his family, accusing them of ‘total neglect’ when his wife Meghan was feeling suicidal amid harassment on social media.

And he laid bare his battles with panic attacks and severe anxiety, saying ‘so 28 to probably 32 was a nightmare time in my life’.

Harry also claimed his late mother was hounded in part because she was dating half-Egyptian Dodi Fayed.

Asked by Oprah if he had any regrets, Harry also said he wished that he had taken a stronger stance on ‘the racism’ aimed at Meghan early in their relationship.

‘By this point, both of us were in shock,’ he said. ‘My mother was chased to her death while she was in a relationship with someone that wasn’t white.

‘And now look at what’s happened. And it all comes back to the same people, the same business model, the same industry.’

Asked whether he had regrets, he replied: ‘My biggest regret is not making more of a stance. Calling out racism when I did. History was repeating itself.’

Harry claimed that it was only him and their unborn child that kept Meghan going, after she told him about her suicidal thoughts and the practicalities of how she was going to end her life.

He said: ‘The thing that stopped her from seeing it through was how unfair it would be on me after everything that had happened to my mum and to now be put in a position of losing another woman in my life, with a baby inside of her, our baby.’

He said he was ‘somewhat ashamed’ of the way he dealt with it, suggesting that rather than prioritising their official duties they should have pulled out. But at the time, Harry said, that was not an option, because of ‘the system’.

Harry said that after marrying Meghan his attempts to get help from his family, following online trolling which was pushing her to the brink, were ignored.

He said: ‘Every single ask, request, warning, whatever it is, to stop just got met with total silence or total neglect.’

Harry added: ‘We spent four years trying to make it work. We did everything that we possibly could to stay there and carry on doing the role and doing the job.’

He said he did not go to his family when Meghan felt suicidal because he was ashamed the situation had got ‘that bad’ and also suspected the royals would not have been able to help.

The duke said: ‘That was one of the biggest reasons to leave, feeling trapped and feeling controlled through fear, both by the media and by the system itself which never encouraged the talking about this kind of trauma. Certainly now I will never be bullied into silence.’

Harry was also shown taking part in an eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing therapy session with a trained professional.

He said: ‘Therapy has equipped me to be able to take on anything – that’s why I’m here now, that’s why my wife is here now.’

His comments will no doubt have increased the much publicised tensions within the royal family following Harry and Meghan’s bombshell interview with Oprah in March.

In that programme the Sussexes first accused the royal family of not supporting them, claimed royal aides declined to help Meghan when she was troubled with suicidal thoughts and said a relative had made a racist comment about their son’s skin colour.

Hours before the new show aired, Harry joined his brother the Duke of Cambridge in criticising the BBC following an inquiry which found the broadcaster covered up ‘deceitful behaviour’ used by journalist Martin Bashir to secure his headline-making 1995 interview with their mother.

The series comes after Harry appeared to suggest his father and grandparents, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, had all failed as parents during a podcast interview broadcast earlier in May.