Sarah Ferguson Joins TikTok (a First for the Royal Family!) with Emotional Video Message

Sarah Ferguson , the Duchess of York, is expanding her social media reach by joining TikTok.

On Oct. 16, the Duchess, who is popularly known as F​​ergie, unveiled a TikTok account with the handle by sharing an emotional video message in which she reflected on previously being diagnosed with breast cancer .

The minute-long clip captured Fergie as she sat outside and opened overlaid with the text, "How it felt to be diagnosed with #breastcancer. "

"Hollow feeling of total abject fear," the Duchess of York began. "The drive from Royal Free to Edward VII Hospital was 40 minutes, and I just didn't speak. I couldn't speak. It's really interesting for me not to speak."

"I couldn't express myself, I just shut down, I went back into [being] a little girl. It was easier not to ask for support and just to deal with it, because that's what I'm used to, that's what I can do, that's what I was taught," she said. "It's only now that I am really proud of my scars. They're really important."

"I never thought you could free the shackles of your heart by cancer, by learning what it is to be able to talk right now, right this second, about what it feels like to ask for help, to surrender and to realize that everything is going to be okay," Fergie said. "And you can find joy and you can not worry so much."

The Duchess of York, 65, was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a successful single mastectomy in the summer of 2023. In January, she announced that she was diagnosed with malignant melanoma , a form of skin cancer, following post-operative analysis of a mole removed during reconstructive surgery after her mastectomy.

Speaking to PEOPLE on Sept. 25, the Duchess said, "My health is really good now ." Two weeks later, she announced that she was the new patron of Prevent Breast Cancer , the U.K.'s only charity solely focused on predicting and preventing breast cancer. Fergie shouted out the organization in the caption of her TikTok.

"My first ever TikTok! How it felt hearing my breast cancer diagnosis," Fergie wrote with the video. "One cancer diagnosis was bad enough, but to go through all those emotions twice was a lot to handle. For anyone going through this now, know that you are not alone."

"I am proud to share that I am officially a patron for #PreventBreastCancer, an incredible organisation that is dedicated to the prediction and prevention of #breastcancer," she wrote, adding the hashtags #BreastCancerAwareness, #PinkTok, #CancerTok and #BreastCancerSurvivor.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is marked globally each October, and the Duchess' patronage of Prevent Breast Cancer was announced on Oct. 9, the same day that she visited the charity's home at The Nightingale Centre at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester, England. The hub doubles as the site of the future National Breast Imaging Academy, which will help train 50 new breast imaging specialists and increase screening capacity by 13,000 appointments in the area each year.

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Fergie was previously married to Prince Andrew , the Duke of York, and her TikTok debut makes her the first member of the family to join the platform with a personal account.