Princess Diana’s private struggles during her first pregnancy were far darker than the polished royal image the public saw at the time.

Diana became pregnant with Prince William less than four months after her 1981 wedding to then-Prince Charles. But what should have been a joyful moment quickly became overwhelming, as the young princess battled severe morning sickness while trying to keep up with royal duties.

Speaking to Andrew Morton for Diana: Her True Story — In Her Own Words, Diana described her pregnancy with William as brutal.

“With William it was appalling, almost every time I stood up I was sick,” she said, adding that she was made to feel as though her illness was “a nuisance” when it interfered with formal events.

Despite feeling physically miserable, Diana said she felt pressured to continue showing up for royal engagements.

“There was only ever one cancellation when I was carrying William, the visit to the Duchy of Cornwall’s estate,” she recalled. “And I was made to feel so guilty by my husband for that.”

According to Diana, the tension reached a frightening point in early 1982 while she and Charles were staying at Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, England.

Diana claimed Charles dismissed her distress and accused her of “crying wolf.”

“Charles said I was crying wolf and I said I felt so desperate and I was crying my eyes out,” she recalled. “And he said: ‘I’m not going to listen. You’re always doing this to me. I’m going riding now.’”

Diana said that was when she threw herself down the stairs.

“The Queen comes out, absolutely horrified, shaking — she was so frightened,” Diana said.

She later said she knew she was not going to lose the baby, though she was left bruised around her stomach. According to The Telegraph, royal gynecologist Sir George Pinker was called to examine her and found that the baby was unharmed.

Diana’s pregnancy continued under intense emotional strain. She later said William’s birth had to be induced because she could no longer cope with the pressure.

“William had to be induced because I couldn’t handle the pressure any longer, it was becoming unbearable,” Diana confessed.

She also claimed that the delivery date had to be chosen around Charles’ schedule, saying they picked a date that “suited him and his polo.”

Prince William was born on June 21, 1982. But Diana said the pain did not end once he arrived.

“I was sick as a parrot the whole way through the labour, very bad labour,” she said.

After returning home, Diana said she was hit hard by postnatal depression.

“Came home and then the postnatal depression hit me so hard,” she recalled, explaining that it was not William himself who caused it, but that the birth “triggered off all else that was going on in my mind.”

Diana said she felt as though “everything was out of control,” and even William’s christening became emotionally overwhelming.

“I just blubbed my eyes out,” she said. “William started crying too. Well, he just sensed that I wasn’t exactly hunky-dory.”

Diana and Charles welcomed their second son, Prince Harry, in 1984. But according to Diana, the marriage collapsed soon afterward.

“It just went bang, our marriage, the whole thing went down the drain,” she said.

The couple separated in 1992 after years of marital turmoil and affairs on both sides. Their divorce was finalized in 1996.

One year later, Diana died in a car crash in Paris, leaving the world stunned and her sons, William and Harry, without their mother.

Charles later married Camilla in 2005. He is now King Charles III, while Camilla is Queen.