How 'The Crown' Season 4 Tackled Princess Diana's ‘Secret Disease’

Emma Corrin, the breakout star from fourth season of “The Crown,” revealed why she wanted Netflix to tackle Princess Diana’s “secret disease” in the latest intallment of the blockbuster hit TV series.

Speaking in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 24-year-old actress opened up about various aspects of the show and also explained why she was keen to show the world how badly the princess suffered from a disease called bulimia.

Corrin noted that she was “really impressed” after researching that Diana was so candid about her eating disorder in the ‘90s. The actress also believes that Diana’s move to talk about her disease back then was a bold one.

“I, through my research, realized that she was very candid about it and I was really impressed. I thought that that was massively ahead of her time. If you think about it, even these days if a public figure comes out and says something about that as their experience it makes headlines. It has journalists going wild to want to find out what happened. Everyone's so celebratory of people sharing their experiences and it's such a good thing these days. And she was doing that in the '90s, which is incredible. I wanted to do it justice,” Corrin told the publication.

Corrin and the writers did not leave any stone unturned to show the real side of the disease. The show highlights the effect that bulimia would have had on Diana’s life.

“Bulimia and self-harm, these are experiences that, when they're happening to you, are at the center of what you're going through. They are symptomatic of so much, but also they cause so much of your behavior as well,” THR quoted Corrin, as saying.

According to Mayo Clinic, bulimia is a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder. It can affect anyone of any age, gender, or background. People with bulimia are caught in a cycle of eating large quantities of food and then trying to compensate for that overeating by fasting or exercising excessively.

Corrin talked to many charities and read books to learn about the disease in order to do justice to what Diana actually felt when she was experiencing it.

“I don't think you can separate it from what's going on. It was the way she dealt with what she was feeling and therefore it contributed to the way she was feeling,” Corrin said.

The star concluded the interview by saying that people who have experienced the disease would be pleased that the show highlighted that part of the story.

“We needed to show it and I think as much as I hope people who have experienced it will be glad that we've shown it,” Corrin noted.

“The Crown” Season 4 is currently streaming on Netflix.