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Meghan Markle Opens Up About Being Trolled, Breastfeeding Archie on Tour, and Being Asked if She's OK

Photo credit: Pool/Samir Hussein - Getty Images
Photo credit: Pool/Samir Hussein - Getty Images

From Town & Country

When the Duchess of Sussex was asked by ITV’s Tom Bradby almost exactly a year ago about the pressures she felt and the impact on her physical and mental health, her answer became one of her most talked about comments: “Thank you for asking because not many people have asked if I’m OK.” Now, Meghan has given further insight into her emotions and what was going on behind the scenes in that moment in a frank interview with podcast Teenager Therapy.

During the 30-minute discussion to mark World Mental Health Day, one of the hosts asked the Duchess how she was. Meghan responded, “Isn’t that funny, it was about a year ago that someone asked me that. We were on a tour in South Africa and on the last day of the tour, man I was tired. I was just about to give Archie a bath...I was exhausted.”

Prince Harry interjected: “She was still breastfeeding at the time.” And Meghan continued: “Oh, yeah, so a lot of people don’t know, it’s like running a marathon, so between every official engagement I was running back to make sure our son was fed. And, yeah, it was a lot. But, at the very end, the journalist asked me ‘Are you OK?’ And I didn’t realize that my answer would receive such an interest from around the world. Because I said well, thanks people haven’t really asked me if I’m OK. I didn't think about that answer. I just answered honestly because I was in a moment of vulnerability, because I was tired, because there was no presentation. It was just, here’s where I am, I’m a mom who’s with a four-and-a-half month old baby and we are tired. But I think it speaks to the fact that the reason it resonated with people is because everyone wants to be asked if they’re OK.”

The Duchess added: “Today I’m doing really well, thank you for asking.” She also spoke about how fortunate they were having “blue skies and fresh air and green space,” adding how “Archie loves birds.”

Harry, too, is thankful for their access to the outdoors right now. “We’ve felt incredibly grateful and fortunate to be able to have outdoor space where our son can walk his first steps,” he said.

“It reminds me of how many people are just stacked on top of each other and have been for months after months after months and what that must do to people’s mental health.”

The discussion with Teenager Therapy hosts Gael, Kayla, and Thomas centered around the fact that everyone should take care of their mental health. Harry pointed out, “Rather than mental health focusing on the people who are struggling, it needs to go much wider than that.”

Meghan also spoke about the impact of people being online more during COVID and the “disconnection” that can bring. She said, “I can speak personally too. I’m told that in 2019, I was the most trolled person in the entire world, male or female. Now, eight months of that I wasn’t even visible. I was on maternity leave or with a baby, but what was able to just be manufacture and churned out, it’s almost unsurvivable. That’s so big that you can’t even think of what that feels like because I don’t care if you’re 15 or you’re 25, if people are saying things about you that aren't true, what that does to your mental and emotional health is so damaging. And so I think from my standpoint, and part of the work that we do is, from our own personal experience being able to talk to people and understand that even though our experience is unique to us and obviously can seem very different to what people experience on the day to day, it’s still a human experience.”

During the discussion Harry and Meghan also emphasized the importance of “self-care,” with the Prince opening up about the value of his daily meditation routine. “For me, meditation. Meditation is key. I never thought I’d be the person to do that. Of course, the importance of just taking a moment and creating that time in your day to be able to take a breath and actually just focus on the things that really matter” he said. Meghan confirmed. “He’s very dedicated to it too,” she said.

And for her part, the Duchess shared that “journaling is a really powerful thing.” “It allows me to reflect on where I’ve come from and with that comes a lot of perspective,” she said. “Sometimes when you’re going through something it feels like the biggest thing in the entire world and then you look back at it in a year and yeah it was still big. It wasn’t that big, comparatively.”

The Teenager Therapy podcast was created and is hosted by five seniors at Loara High School in Anaheim, CA. The show features five teens sharing candid conversations about mental health, school and family, friendships and sexuality, and more. You can listen to the episode here, or at the links below:

While recording, the Duchess wore an outfit designed to honor the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a spokesman said. Her mask was embroidered with the words “When there are nine,” referring to the Justice’s response when she was asked when there will be enough women on the Supreme Court.

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