With Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announcing their engagement yesterday, the media was inevitably dominated by the news.
But one woman was left disappointed after This Morning axed an interview about her father’s mental-health struggles to accommodate coverage of the imminent royal wedding.
Ellie Wilkie and her father Brian were due on the ITV show to discuss the latter’s battle with depression – Brian has made an amazing recovery and is now working to help others combat similar illnesses.
But after the segment was dropped, the blonde expressed her disappointment on Twitter – and now, ITV bosses have been forced to defend themselves after the tweet went viral.
Ellie posted a picture of her and her dad at This Morning’s London studio. Alongside it, she revealed what had happened.
She wrote: “Unfortunately, today was not the day for our story to be heard. Due to breaking news, our story was cut off live TV.
“The royal wedding will go ahead, however mental-health issues will always remain. Until next time, Dad #breakthestigma.”
And within hours, the tweet had gone viral, scoring an amazing 72,000 likes and shares.
Followers were emphatic in their support for the Wilkies. One said: “I’m so sorry this happened. The fact they didn’t tell your dad’s story due to an engagement breaks my heart! They should be ashamed of themselves. Your dad is an inspiration!”
Read more: This Morning viewers slam show’s Meghan and Harry engagement coverage
Another scoffed: “Welcome to the UK, where an engagement is more important than mental health.”
And a third pointed out: “Considering the work the 2 princes have done for mental-health awareness, I would like to think that they would have wanted the story told. @this morning you got this wrong.”
With so much negativity aimed in their direction, it was perhaps inevitable that ITV bosses would have their say.
And sure enough, an ITV representative told Metro.co.uk today: “The guests in question have been given an open invitation to come back on the show and tell their story.
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“They were offered a hotel stay overnight and asked if they would like to be on today’s show, but couldn’t make it due to prior commitments. We are keeping in contact throughout this week in a bid to find another date.
“Mental-health matters are an issue This Morning takes very seriously. It’s one of the reasons we were nominated in the Mind Mental Health Award earlier this year.”
Last week, Ellie posted another message to Twitter in which she paid tribute to Brian’s amazing recovery.
She gushed: “This year began with my dad mentally suffering depression [and an attempt to take his own life]. Today he ends the year starting his new career in becoming a recovery support worker.
“Words can’t describe how proud we are #breakthestigma. It’s okay not to be okay.”
We hope he gets a chance to tell his story soon.