ROYAL FAMILY NEWS'Her Life Became Untethered': 'Vulnerable' Princess Diana Might Still 'Be Alive Today' If She Had Been Warned About 1995 'Panorama' Interview
BBC journalist Martin Bashir forged documents to earn the sit-down with Princess Diana.
Nov. 24 2025, Published 5:44 p.m. ET
Princess Diana's life might have been different if she didn't bare her soul in her infamous 1995 BBC Panorama interview with host Martin Bashir.
The late Princess of Wales was candid about her life in the royal spotlight and discussed her ex-husband King Charles' affair with Queen Camilla.
Journalist Andy Webb's new book Dianarama: Deception, Entrapment, Cover-Up—The Betrayal of Princess Diana drops on November 25 and explores how Diana was betrayed to score the bombshell sit-down.
Princess Diana's Bombshell 'Panorama' Interview
The BBC 'Panorama' interview aired in 1995.
In 2021, it was uncovered that Bashir, 62, had forged documents to coerce Diana to do the interview — an act that was portrayed in Season 5 of Netflix's royal drama The Crown.
Webb opened up to People about how the chat changed Princess Di's life course, even going so far as to claim that she might have been alive today if the interview never took place. Diana died in a fiery car crash two years after Panorama during a trip to Paris.
Princess Diana died in 1997 in a Parisian car crash.
“Her life became untethered,” Webb said. “It was frenzied between the interview and her death. There’s so much that’s new that I wanted to put down in this book — a first draft of history."
“BBC bosses knew enough to warn Diana that she had been dealing with a fraudster,” he added, also noting that the network executives were also told by a graphic designer that bank statements Bashir had previously presented to Diana were faked.
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Martin Bashir Was a 'Fraudster'
Martin Bashir used unethical tactics secure his interview with Princess Diana.
Webb stated that Diana's "life would have followed a different path if she’d been warned."
"She might plausibly still be alive today — a grandmother at 64, enjoying her five grandchildren. The consequences were lethal," he said.
Diana's sons, Prince Harry and Prince William, are both parents to young children. The Duke of Sussex, 41, shares son Prince Archie, 6, and daughter Princess Lilibet, 4, with wife Meghan Markle, while William, 43, is a father to sons Prince George, 11, and Prince Louis, 6, and daughter Princess Charlotte, 9, whom he shares with wife Kate Middleton.
The 'Panorama' chat was watched by 200 million viewers worldwide.
Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, has been supportive of Webb's quest to keep on sharing the truth about his sister's pain and defenselessness.
“High-ranking people in the BBC participated in securing this interview through appalling deception,” Spencer told People. “I am sure that this led directly to Diana being left vulnerable in Paris on the night she died.”
Diana passed on without ever learning the truth about Bashir's trickery. "She firmly believes that he was a truth teller, Webb said. "Had Diana realized Bashir was a fraudster, everything would have fallen away."
