Editor’s note: If you or anyone you know is struggling with mental health, there are a number of ways to get help, including by calling or texting the Suicide Crisis Helpline at 9-8-8. A list of local crisis centres is also available here.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has said that being open about her experience of suicidal ideation is part of the “healing journey.”
In an interview with CBS News, broadcast on Sunday, the former “Suits” star talked about admitting to Oprah Winfrey that she sank to an all-time low while still living in the United Kingdom.
In the bombshell interview that she and her husband, Prince Harry, gave to Winfrey back in 2021, Meghan said royal life had left her feeling so isolated that she “didn’t want to be alive anymore.”
Fighting back tears, Meghan told Winfrey the thoughts of suicide were incredibly difficult to bear, and she was reluctant to share them with her husband, who lost his mother, Princess Diana, when he was a boy.
“I was really ashamed to say it at the time, and ashamed to have to admit it to Harry especially, because I know how much loss he has suffered. But I knew that if I didn’t say it, that I would do it – and I just didn’t want to be alive anymore,” she said at the time.
Now, more than three years later, she addressed the topic once again as she and the Duke launched an initiative to support parents who have been bereaved as a result of harm from social media.
The Archewell Foundation Parents’ Network aims to support affected families, including several whose children have taken their own lives as a result of online harm.
During the CBS interview, the duchess was asked about the experience “that connects you to these families.”
Appearing slightly uncomfortable, Meghan told interviewer Jane Pauley that she had not anticipated the question but understood why it was raised.
“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,” she said.
“And you know, I haven’t 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.
“So, if me voicing what I have overcome will save someone, or encourage someone in their life to really genuinely check in on them and not assume that the appearance is good, so everything’s okay, then that’s worth it,” Meghan said. “I’ll take a hit for that.”
Earlier this year, the duchess spoke about how the “bulk” of the “cruel” online bullying and abuse she experienced was during her pregnancies
Speaking at an event in Texas in March, she said: “I keep my distance from (social media) right now just for my own wellbeing.”
The duchess gave birth to her first child, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, on May 6, 2019. The couple then welcomed Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor on June 4, 2021.
In March 2019, the British royal family told social media users to show “courtesy, kindness and respect” when interacting with its online posts, after repeated cases of online abuse directed at Meghan and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. This followed Kensington Palace asking social media firms for help in combating the boom in abuse, which included sexist and racist comments.
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