The Duchess of Cambridge's sister Pippa Middleton has described how she has felt "publicly bullied a little bit" since being propelled into the spotlight following the royal wedding.
Pippa, who gave her first ever television interview to American journalist Matt Lauer for NBC's Today show, spoke of how it was difficult to read things about herself which were untrue.
Miss Middleton, who is a columnist for Waitrose's monthly magazine, gained notoriety for her figure-hugging bridesmaid's dress when Kate married the Duke of Cambridge in 2011.
Her party book, Celebrate, was marketed in 2012 as a one-stop guide to entertaining throughout the year. But the publication was mocked by some for its over-simplistic advice and even sparked a parody Twitter account, @PippaTips.
Party planner Miss Middleton said: "I've had amazing opportunities and I feel very fortunate to have opportunities and to have access to things that maybe I wouldn't necessarily."
But quizzed on whether she had faced criticism on social media sites and online, she said: "It's hard sometimes because I have felt publicly bullied a little bit just by, you know, when I read things that clearly aren't true or that, whichever way someone looks at it, it's a negative side.
"It is quite difficult. Because effectively I'm just paving my way and trying to live a life like any 30-year-old."
She added: "I think people feel they can say something about you online or on a web page when they would never say it to your face but they think that's okay. It's been difficult."
Miss Middleton discussed her nephew Prince George, describing him as "amazing", adding: "He's a very dear boy and he's brought a lot of pleasure and fun for all of us, the whole family."
She revealed that her famous bridesmaid's dress was meant to blend in with her sister's train, describing the interest in it as "embarrassing," adding: "The dress was almost meant to be insignificant."
The outfit is still in her wardrobe at home. "I think I'll just keep it there," she said. "I think it's the sort of thing that I'm sure I'll bring out if someone wanted to see it or my children one day want to see it. Then I'll show them but yes it's tucked away."
She described her relationship with Kate as "very close" and said they spent a lot of time together.
Miss Middleton said she did not initially grasp the scale of the royal wedding. "It sounds funny to say, but we saw it, as just a family wedding. And actually, I didn't realise, perhaps, the scale of it until afterwards," she revealed.
Pippa, who recently took part in a 3,000-mile (4,828km) charity cycle ride across the US, said she had a few plans in the pipeline, including to carry on writing.
The interview is being shown in the US in two parts today and tomorrow.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article