ROYAL experts have slammed Princess Diana’s bulimia scenes in The Crown as being “too graphic”.
In one distressing scene, actress Emma Corrin, who plays Diana, can be seen putting her fingers down her throat to be sick after an argument with Prince Charles.
Another sequence shows the character excessively eating desserts, before again forcing herself to be sick in a palace toilet.
The Crown viewers took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the “heartbreaking” moments.
One said: “Seeing Diana struggle with bulimia is so sad.”
Another added: “That bulimia scene was so hard to watch.”
Viewers were given an on-screen warning by Netflix at the beginning of the three episodes where her eating disorder was depicted, due to them being so graphic in nature.
It says: “The following episode includes scenes of an eating disorder which some viewers may find troubling. Viewers discretion is required.”
Some royal experts have since weighed in on the portrayal and asked if the show’s creators made them too stark.
Royal editor Ingrid Seward told the Daily Mail: “It was a significant thing in her young life, so I think it needed to be depicted in some way.
“It would have been absolutely fine having her bending over the loo, but I don’t think you need quite such detail. I think it perhaps was a bit over embellished.”
Meanwhile, the Queen’s ex-press secretary Dickie Arbiter said Diana’s bulimia couldn’t be ignored.
However, he added: “The script is fiction, the words are fiction and some of the actions are fiction”.
Princess Diana herself told biographer Andrew Morton in 1991: “The bulimia started the week after we got engaged.
“My husband put his hand on my waistline and said something like, ‘Oh, a bit chubby here, aren’t we?’ And that triggered off something in me.
“I remember the first time I made myself sick, I was so thrilled.”
One viewer wrote on Twitter: “The message of the season was made clear in beautifully written scripts.
“And it certainly was an exceptional season. The episodes surrounding Princess Diana’s bulimia were particularly very hard to watch.”
Another added: “Emma Corrin did an honest portrait of Diana’s bulimia. As someone who suffered from eating disorder in the past, this acknowledgement means a great deal.”
Actress Emma Corrin said the graphic bulimia scenes were kept in the script at her request.
She told the Radio Times: “I felt that if we were trying to depict bulimia in an honest way, we had to actually show it – otherwise it’s a disservice to anyone who has been through that.”
The 24-year-old plays the Princess of Wales aged 16 to 28 in the fourth season of the Netflix hit, streaming now.
