During a rare public appearance at the SXSW festival, Meghan Markle opened up about the bullying she experienced online throughout her pregnancies with her two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet - and revealed the one place she found 'support.'
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle now largely live their lives out of the public eye. It's a huge change for the couple who married back in 2018, but since stepping down as senior royals and leaving The Firm, their top priorities have been their two young children, Prince Archie and Prince Lilibet, not their work.
When they are working, the causes they choose to support show off their desire to improve the world for their kids. Meghan's latest public appearance was no different. Last weekend, she was part of a panel at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas and spoke about the importance of creating realistic 'representations for women' in media, especially around motherhood, by highlighting the universal issues mothers face from the motherhood penalty, to the standards that feel out of reach and leave mothers feeling as though they're not good enough, to the fact that employers want to stop mothers working from home even though it's proven to help keep them employment.
During her speech, we were given rare insight into Meghan's home life at a level we haven't seen from the former-actress since her's and Prince Harry's explosive Oprah interview. Namely, she focused on the horrific online abuse she experienced throughout her pregnancies, abuse that shadowed what she says should have been a 'tender and special time' for the family.
As Meghan shared, becoming a new mum and handling the transition into parenthood is a vulnerable time for any woman experiencing it, but Meghan had the additional pressure of becoming a mum to a royal, a royal who was born into a prominent position in the royal line of succession. Not only this, but she was exposed to, what she calls, 'cruel' and 'hateful' online bullying throughout her pregnancies, only worsening her stress.
"The bulk of the bullying that I was experiencing on social media and online was when I was pregnant with Archie and Lili," she said before questioning why people felt so comfortable with harassing anyone, let alone someone who was pregnant. But what upset her the most, she shared, was that much of the hate she received was from other women.
"It's women completely spewing that to other women and I cannot make sense of that," she said candidly. "And you just think about that and really wrap your head around what people would be so hateful. It's not catty, it's cruel, why you would do that? Certainly when you're pregnant and you have a newborn."
But one thing did help her get through - the 'support' offered by her husband, Prince Harry. "I'm fortunate - I have an incredible partner, my husband is such a supporter of me and my family," she said, praising Harry as he watched on from the crowd. "It's such a blessing but so many people don't have that kind of support.
"When you're a new mum, it is a really vulnerable time," she added. "Even just the lack of sleep.. it can also be dizzying for them to see this perfect portrayal of motherhood. He [Harry] is such a hands-on dad and supporter of me and my family."
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's family life has already been in the news a lot this year, with the couple changing their children's surnames in ‘surprise’ move that proves they will always be royals and with them also beginning a new venture that Archie and Lilibet, as well as many other children, are set to benefit massively from. But it hasn't been all work and no play as Harry has taken up a hobby he vowed to never ‘enjoy’ again after Princess Diana’s death and it's all thanks to his children.
