Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew shook up the royal family when they divorced after 10 years of marriage in 1996. But maybe it was for the best. According to the Duchess of York herself, things are better than ever between the exes today.

“Now our life together is the greatest ever,” she told Modern Hero of the former pair, who live together a the Royal Lodge in Windsor, in a new interview. “It’s so hard to comprehend because we’re not normal. This is our fairy tale, and we’re telling it our way.”

Sarah, 58, also noted how close she is with her two adult daughters, Princess Beatrice, 30, and Princess Eugenie, 28. “I am a mother that I’ve always wanted,” she said. “Beatrice calls me the most misunderstood woman in the world.”

Things weren’t always easy for Sarah. During the sit-down, she said she used to blame herself for her split with Andrew, 58, all those years ago. “It was rock bottom. I had completely and utterly destroyed myself. I murdered myself,” she said of their divorce. “I must have brought that on for myself, hadn’t I? That’s how I felt about myself, self-hatred at its height. I think that I lived in my ego for a very long time.”

Sarah further opened up about their split, sharing it was the plethora of time apart that contributed to their breakup. “It was seven years, 40 days a year, I saw him. It was really, really difficult,” she admitted. “It played into my abandonment. We both agreed we didn’t fight hard enough to keep it together.”

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And although their divorce was a “long, hard” journey and took “loads of spiritual work to break through my ego,” she admitted it was “certainly the best thing I’ve ever done.” She proudly gushed, “I’m starting my life at 58.”

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