Pippa Middleton On ‘Embarrassing’ Attention Over Royal Wedding Dress, Talks Being ‘Bullied’

Pippa Middleton made headlines at sister Kate Middleton’s Royal Wedding to Prince William in 2011 for her flattering maid-of-honor dress, and she said she was surprised by all the attention.

“It was completely unexpected,” Pippa told “Today” show host Matt Lauer in an interview that aired on Monday. “I think the plan was not really for it to be a significant dress, really just sort of blend in with the train. And, I suppose it’s flattering.”

But did she find the attention a little embarrassing?

PHOTOS: Sexy Royal Sister Pippa Middleton

“Embarrassing, definitely, because I suppose, it wasn’t planned. The dress was almost meant to be insignificant,” Pippa said.

Pippa, 30, said the famed gown is at home in her wardrobe, and she has no plans to wear it any time soon.

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“I think it’s the sort of thing I’m sure I’ll bring out if someone wanted to see it, or my children one day want to see it, I’ll show them, but it’s tucked away,” Pippa said.

Pippa, an author and charity campaigner, said she didn’t realize how big her sister’s wedding was until later, when the families were on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, looking out at the crowds.

“Even sort of walking through the Abbey, there were a lot of people, but I didn’t maybe… see any TV cameras. So, to me, it was just performing in front of a lot of people, not necessarily the whole world,” she told Matt.

But while standing on that balcony, Pippa said she felt the enormity of the event.

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“It was surreal. You sort of slightly don’t know if you’re living it through yourself [at] that moment,” she said. “I think it was whenever we sort of saw crowds rushing ‘round to the balcony, and I suddenly was like, ‘Wow, this is pretty special.’”

Now, three years after her big sister’s wedding, Pippa is regularly followed by the paparazzi, who often find out her location when people Tweet about where they saw her. And Pippa told Matt she has found being in the public eye, and all the criticism that comes with being famous, isn’t always easy.

“It’s hard sometimes because I have felt publicly bullied a little bit just by, you know, when I read things that clearly aren’t true or that, you know, whichever way someone looks at it, it’s a negative side and it is quite difficult because eventually I’m just paving my way and trying to live a life like any 30-year-old,” she said.

When Matt suggested many young people on Twitter might also feel bullied, Pippa said social media takes away the filter many people have in real life.

“And I think people feel they can say something about you online or on a web page when they would never say it to your face. But they think that’s okay,” she said. “So it’s been difficult. And I think, you know, just to sort of keep bouncing back and carrying on and trying not to let it affect you is hard, but it’s just… it’s trying to just be yourself and not read too much and make decisions based on what I feel is right and wrong.”

— Jolie Lash