Relentless, negative media attention seems to have been a driving force behind Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s decision to “step back” from their official royal roles earlier this year. Since the beginning of their relationship, Meghan faced constant criticism from UK tabloids: Although much of it read as sexist, even racist, the royal family failed to protect her — indeed, some experts say the institution set her up to fail. In the past, she has spoken candidly about the heavy toll that coverage took on her wellbeing; now, Meghan has clarified that the bullying felt “almost unsurvivable.”
Meghan and Harry recently sat down with a trio of high schoolers for a World Mental Health Day episode of the podcast, “Teenager Therapy.” Speaking about isolation and abuse she has faced online, Meghan said: “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 the baby. But what was able to be manufactured or churned out, it’s almost unsurvivable.”
“That’s so big, you can’t even think of what that feels like,” she added. “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.”
Meghan gave birth to baby Archie in May of 2019, and in October, she and Harry addressed their vicious treatment by the press in a documentary. Harry suggested that the way the media hounds him and Meghan reminds him of the way the paparazzi hounded his mother, the late Princess Diana. For her part, Meghan explained that “any woman, especially when they’re pregnant, you’re really vulnerable. And so that was made really challenging, and then, when you have a newborn, you know? So you add this on top of just trying to be a new mom and trying to be a newlywed.”
“And also thank you for asking, because not many people will have asked if I’m okay,” she told the interviewer, looking close to tears as she admitted that she was not. “It’s a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes.”