Prince William says Diana bothered by fat comment

NEW YORK, June 18 (Reuters) Of all the media scrutiny given to Britain's Princess Diana, perhaps the most outrageous was tabloid commentary that she was too fat, her son Prince William said in a television interview aired today.

''Someone said she had cellulite or something like that. As a woman in the public eye, she tried so hard and was so glamorous, always in the gym,'' William told NBC's Matt Lauer.

''For any woman, I imagine, it's just outrageous that these people sit behind their desks and comment on it. There were many times we just sort of had to cheer her up and tell her she was the best thing ever,'' William said.

The interview with William, 24, and his brother, Prince Harry, 22, was conducted last month in London.

Portions of the interview were aired on NBC's ''Today'' show on Monday morning and will be shown again on ''Dateline NBC'' on Monday night. Partial transcripts were released previously.

Princess Diana died on Aug. 31, 1997, after a high-speed car crash in a Paris tunnel along with her boyfriend, Dodi Al-Fayed, and their driver.

The princes are planning a concert in London's Wembley Stadium in their mother's honor on July 1, which would have been her 46th birthday. The concert will include performances by artists expected to include Elton John, Duran Duran, Rod Stewart and Tom Jones.

Previously released transcripts showed both princes said in the interview that in the decade since their mother's death, time had passed very slowly.

William said that not a day goes by that he doesn't think about her and her death, and Harry said he still wonders about what happened the night of the crash.

REUTERS JK VV1833