Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.
The radio hosts involved in the Kate Middleton hospital prank broke down in tears whilst talking about the tragic incident.
Michael Christian and his co-host, Mel Greig, were both caught up in a terrible controversy while they were working at 2Day FM radio back in 2012.
The pair took part in a prank call to the London hospital where Kate was staying, after she was admitted during her pregnancy with Prince George, as she had been suffering from extreme morning sickness.
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The two DJs pretended to be Queen Elizabeth II and then Prince Charles to gain access to information about the Princess of Wales as she was being treated at King Edward VII’s Hospital.
At the time, the duo’s impressions were able to convince a nurse called Jacintha Saldanha that they were the Royals who wanted to check up on the Princess of Wales.
Saldanha, 46, then transferred the call to another colleague on the ward where Kate was staying, who then disclosed private medical information to the hosts.
Sadly, after realising she had been fooled, Saldanha took her own life two days later. It’s understood she left three handwritten notes, with one listing the royal radio hoax call as the reason for her death.
Months after the coroner’s office ruled Saldanha’s death a suicide, her grieving husband, Ben Barboza, said he couldn’t ever 'forgive' the DJs, adding: "I am just really angry, why did they do that? Just a matter of three or four seconds changed our whole life."
Both Christian and Greig later spoke out about the tragedy, breaking down in tears during a televised interview with Australia’s A Current Affair in 2012.
"There’s not a minute that goes by that we don’t think about her family and what they must be going through," Greig said. "And the thought that we may have played a part in that is gut-wrenching."
"We just assumed we’d get cut off at every single point and that’d be it," Christian added. "The joke 100 per cent was on us.
"The idea was never, 'Let’s call up and get through to Kate,' or 'Let’s speak to a nurse.' The joke was our accents are horrible, they don’t sound anything like who they’re intended to be."
"The entertainment value was in us," Greig continued. "It was meant to be in our silly accents. That’s where it was meant to end."
Following the news, Prince William sent a letter to the family, where he is said to have described the situation as 'unbelievably sad', explaining he and Kate wanted to extend their ‘deepest condolences’.
Christian, who lost his job at the station earlier this year, has recently opened a lawsuit against 2Day FM radio station’s parent company, Southern Cross Austereo (SCA).
The lawsuit alleged the hoax call breached the Australian Communications and Media Authority code of practice and should never have been able to come to fruition.
Greig also issued her thoughts on her former colleague's lawsuit, adding on her Instagram Stories that she 'understood why Michael is choosing to go down this path'.
Tyla has previously reached out to Southern Cross Austereo for comment.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line on 116 123.
Topics: Royal Family, Entertainment, Crime, Kate Middleton
Lucy Devine