Meghan Markle opened up about her past experience dealing with suicidal thoughts during her and Prince Harry’s new joint interview.
The couple sat down with Jane Pauley for an episode of “CBS Sunday Morning” released on Markle’s 43rd birthday on Sunday to discuss their new initiative, The Parents Network, aimed at helping parents whose children have been affected by bullying on social media.
The Duchess of Sussex explained that she can relate to the parents she’s helping because of her own experiences with bullying.
“When you’ve been through any level of pain or trauma, I believe part of our healing journey — certainly part of mine — is being able to be really open about it,” Markle said.
“I really scraped the surface on my experience, but I do think that I would never want someone else to feel that way and I would never want someone else to be making those sort of plans and I would never want someone else to not be believed,” she added.
“So if me voicing what I have overcome, will save someone, or encourage someone in their life to really genuinely check in on them, not assume the appearance is good, not assume everything is okay, then that’s worth it. I’ll take a hit for that.”
The mother of two previously spoke up about her mental health issues in her and Harry’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021.
She said she had suicidal thoughts when she was pregnant with son Archie, now 5, and dealing with the cruelness of the British press.
“I was ashamed to say it at the time and ashamed to have to admit it to Harry because of how much loss he suffered,” Markle shared in the Oprah interview.
“But I knew that if I didn’t say it I would do it – because I just didn’t want to be alive anymore,” she continued. “That was a very clear and real and frightening, constant thought.”
Markle also confessed that she “didn’t want to be alive anymore” and reached out to a senior member of the Palace for help, but was rejected.
In 2022, Markle said on her “Archetypes” podcast that Harry, 39, once gave her a referral for a mental health counselor.
“My husband had found a referral for me to call. And I called this woman, and she didn’t even know I was calling her … and she was checking out at the grocery store,” said Markle.
“I could hear the little beep, beep … She could hear the dire state that I was in,” she went on. “But I think it’s for all of us to be really honest about what it is that you need and to not be afraid and make peace with that, to ask for it.”
During the couple’s Netflix doc that came out in Dec. 2022, Harry admitted that he regretted how he handled his wife’s mental health struggles.
“I was devastated, I knew that she was struggling—that we were both struggling—but I never thought that it would get to that stage,” he said. “And the fact that it got to that stage, I felt angry and ashamed. I didn’t deal with it particularly well. I dealt with it as institutional Harry as opposed to husband Harry.”
“What took over my feelings was my royal role. I had been trained to worry more about ‘What are people gonna think if we don’t go to this event? We’re going to be late.’ Looking back at it now, I hate myself for it.”
“What she needed from me was so much more than I was able to give,” Harry added.
Markle’s mother Doria Ragland also confirmed in the Netflix doc that Markle thought about suicide.
“I remember her telling me that—that she’d wanted to take her own life,” said Ragland, 67. “And that really broke my heart because I knew that it was bad, but to constantly be picked at by these vultures, picking away at her spirit, that she would actually think of not wanting to be here. That’s not an easy one for a mom to hear, you know, and I can’t protect her. H can’t protect her.”
During the “CBS Sunday Morning” interview, the former working royals said they’re focused on protecting their own children, son Archie and daughter Lilibet, 3, from online bullying with their new initiative.
“Our kids are young — they’re 3 and 5. They’re amazing,” said Markle. “But all you want to do as parents is protect them.”
“So as we can see what’s happening in the online space, we know that there’s a lot of work to be done there, and we’re just happy to be able to be a part of change for good,” she added.
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