Prince Harry made meanigful statement during his surprise appearance at an event in New York City, saying ‘the silence is killing people.’
The Duke of Sussex made the comments during his an unannounced appearance at a reception hosted by Movember, the world’s largest men’s health charity, at the Australian American Association in NYC.
Harry’s words come after Princess Kate’s important message on children’s well-being, urging people to “invest in just one thing to help you and your family thrive, invest in the relationships you have with each other.”
Harry, British Army veteran and mental health advocate, said, “The silence is killing people. Stamping out the stigma globally, we’ve come a long way. Access to therapy is still a massive problem.”
The statement, shared to the Sussex.com website, read: “Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, joined Movember, the leading global men’s health nonprofit, for an evening conversation that laid bare a crisis hiding in plain sight: American men are dying younger, struggling more, and suffering in silence at rates that demand urgent attention.”
It continued: “The reception launched The Real Face of Men’s Health: USA, a groundbreaking report from the Movember Institute of Men’s Health that combines hard data with human stories to reveal what’s killing men—and why so many never ask for help and why a majority (53%) die prematurely.”
Harry stated: “Yet when I speak to men, the same struggles keep coming up, which tells me that the weight they carry isn’t uncommon. The biggest barrier is the belief that no one will understand. Loneliness convinces you you’re the only one, which is rarely true.”
In 2023, American men had a life expectancy of just 75.8 years, ranking the United States 27th out of 31 OECD countries. Men are more than twice as likely as women to die from heart disease, 20% more likely to die from cancer, and 250% more likely to die from accidents and drug overdoses.
As per the statement, “Behind these statistics are fathers who never mentioned chest pain, brothers who hid addiction, sons who believed asking for help wasn’t masculine.”
It continued: “Mental health challenges hit younger men particularly hard. More than one in four men ages 18 to 34 reported experiencing mental ill-health in the past year, with rates peaking at 32% among men aged 30 to 34.”
Harry also addressed social media as what he views as one of the most urgent alarm bells. He said too many young men are being raised by algorithms that make them feel powerless and hopeless, rather than real mentors. They seek guidance online and find themselves in digital spaces designed to maximize engagement through outrage and division, not to support healthy development.
The conversation touched on the fact that men need different pathways to connect.
