Earl Spencer’s claims might seem like ancient history, but they show the human cost of commodifying women in the public eye
If it happened today, we’d call it gaslighting.
There’s surely no other word for playing on someone’s darkest suspicions, planting seeds of doubt that could only leave her more bewildered about whom to trust. It would be a scandal now if it was alleged that a journalist had secured an interview with an emotionally fragile woman – for everyone knew Princess Diana’s history of eating disorders, her belief the palace was out to get her, the tales of her trying to throw herself down the stairs as her marriage imploded – after showing members of her family forged bank statements supposedly “proving” that her closest aides were being paid to spy on her.
