James Middleton Admits It "Does Get Frustrating" Being Duchess Kate's Brother: "I'm Just James"

E! News gets exclusive first look at young entrepreneur's candid interview with The Young Director

By Rebecca Macatee Jan 29, 2015 3:00 PMTags
James Middleton, The Young DirectorJosh Carroll, The Young Director

James Middleton isn't just Kate Middleton's younger brother.

E! News got an exclusive first look at the 27-year-old entrepreneur's interview with The Young Director (TYD), a new app and lifestyle digital magazine available in iPad. In it, James is asked, it it frustrating that his work is often overshadowed by his sibling's royal status? "Yes, it does get frustrating," he admits.

"I work incredibly hard—just like every other person in business and work," he says, "And aside from the fact of — yes, I am the brother of someone very important—I am, at the end of the day, just James."

Josh Carroll, The Young Director

He's extremely hands on at Boomf, a company he co-founded that allows Instagram users to have their pictures printed on marshmallows. Prior to that, he tells TYD he "used the stepping stones within the family business"— Carole and James Middleton's Party Pieces —to start his first venture, The Cake Kit Company.

"I have only ever employed myself," he says proudly.

Wanting to work for himself, he says, was part of why he dropped out of University of Edinburgh. Additionally, he says, he "was not confident in the pursuit of me getting my degree," largely because of his struggle with dyslexia.

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Josh Carroll, The Young Director

Not that his reading struggles have held him back! "I feel dyslexia is a strong point in me now," he says.

"I usually joke that it's like a Superpower—you only have it if you've got it!" he says. "For one, it makes you unique, and two, your brain just works differently; you will get to the answer of a solution but just in a different—maybe unconventional way."

James seems a little squeamish when asked about his "guilty pleasures," but he's able to come up with one that most of us enjoy. "Ah! Family Guy," he tells TYD, acknowledging, "I know to some it may not be a guilty pleasure but I absolutely love the show!...Some people think they are just cartoons but I think they are so clever and much more than cartoons."

He also has a quick response when asked who he'd want to play him in a movie. "Leonardo DiCaprio!" he answers instantly. "I would want Leonardo to play me because I believe in his acting mastery. The guy is a genius and he would make me look fantastic."

Check out James' full interview in the Winter 2015 issue of TYD, now available for purchase.

—Reporting by Sara Kitnick