The Duke of Sussex has criticized the way Prince Charles raised him, citing the royal family’s “genetic pain and suffering” and emphasizing his desire to “break the cycle” for his children.

In a 90-minute interview, Prince Harry, who is expecting a baby with Meghan and is already the father to Archie, two, compared life in the royal family to a cross between The Truman Show and a zoo.

Harry was promoting his new Apple TV+ series on mental health, The Me You Can’t See, with Oprah Winfrey, when he spoke to American actor Dax Shepard for his Armchair Expert podcast.

When asked about his childhood, Harry stated, “There is no blame. I don’t think we should point the finger or blame anyone, but certainly when it comes to parenting, if I have experienced any kind of pain or suffering due to pain or suffering that perhaps my father or parents had suffered, I’ll make sure to break that cycle so I don’t pass it on, basically.”

“It’s a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway so we as parents should be doing the most we can to try and say: ‘You know what, that happened to me, I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen to you.’”

“Suddenly I started to piece it together and go ‘OK, so this is where he went to school, this is what happened, I know this about his life, I also know that is connected to his parents so that means he’s treated me the way he was treated, so how can I change that for my own kids?’” he said of Prince Charles.

“And well here I am, I moved my whole family to the US, that wasn’t the plan but sometimes you’ve got make decisions and put your family first and put your mental health first.”

He stated that while he was in his twenties, he recognized he did not want the royal “job” after witnessing what it did to his mother, Princess Diana.

He admitted to having to “smile and bear it,” but said, “I have seen it behind the curtain, I have seen the business model, I know how this operation works and how it works. I don’t want to be a part of this.

Harry also said that he began therapy following a chat with his wife, Meghan, who “saw it straight away.”

“She could tell that I was hurting and that some of the stuff that was out of my control would make me really angry, it would make my blood boil.”

He claimed that treatment helped him “pluck his head out of the sand” and realize that he needed to use his privileged position to help others.