Meghan Markle has a message for her haters!
On Friday, the Duchess of Sussex used her time in the spotlight at the SXSW Conference in Austin, Texas, to hit back at her bullies! The actress joined Katie Couric, Brooke Shields, and Nancy Wang Yuen for the Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On and Off the Screen panel — and nothing was off-limits!
Reflecting on her painful past with social media, Meghan revealed she faced the most hate from online critics when she was pregnant with her kids Prince Archie and Prince Lilibet. Oof. The topic came up when moderator Errin Haines noted that “social media really has become the place for women and girls to be scrutinized, objectified, [and] bullied.” She then asked the Cali native:
“How have you been able to manage the seemingly endless toxicity that comes at you?”
Related: Is Prince Harry In Imminent Danger Of Getting Deported?!
The Suits alum didn’t shy away from an honest answer, saying:
“Yes, social media is an environment that I think has a lot of that. You know I think, it’s really interesting as I can reflect on it, I keep my distance from it right now just for my own well-being, but the bulk of the bullying and abuse that I was experiencing on social media and online was when I was pregnant with Archie and Lili, and with a newborn with each of them.”
She’s not mincing words by calling it what it is — “abuse”! The 42-year-old continued:
“You just think about that, and to really wrap your head around why people would be so hateful. It’s not catty, it’s cruel. And why you would do that, certainly, when you’re pregnant, with a newborn, we all know as moms, it’s such a tender and sacred time.”
So true!! As Perezcious readers might recall, Meghan faced mental health struggles and suicidal thoughts when she was pregnant with her firstborn, so she deeply understands how damaging hateful comments can be at an already vulnerable time. Seemingly referencing this, she continued:
“I think you know, you could either succumb to it, nearly succumb to how painful that it is, and maybe in some regards, because I was pregnant, that mammalian instinct just kicked in, you do everything you can to protect your child, and as a result, protect yourself too.”
The Archetypes host went on to note how “disturbing” it is to see how “much of the hate is women completely spewing it to other women,” she continued:
“I cannot make sense of that, because I understand that there are certain platforms — today is a really good example. This is being streamed on one of those platforms, and it’s also fantastic because people are going to have access to hear all of this brilliance and all of this insight. And at the same time, it’s a platform that has quite a bit of hate and rhetoric and incentives people to create pages where they can churn out very, very inciting comments and conspiracy theories that can have a tremendously negative effect on someone’s mental health, on their physical safety.”
Damn! Not the conspiracy theory reference! Not only has Meghan faced a ton of those, but the royal family has been dealing with SO much of that right now in regards to Princess Catherine!
Elsewhere, the Deal or No Deal alum praised her husband Prince Harry, who was front row, for being such an amazing partner and helping her navigate the challenges that come with raising a family in the public eye, adding:
“As moms, and as I was saying earlier when you’re a new mom, it’s a really vulnerable time. The effect that social media can have on new mothers — even just the lack of sleep because they spend all this time scrolling — but it can also be really dizzying for them to see this portrayal of motherhood that looks so perfect when we all know it’s not perfect. We all know that it’s messy. I’m fortunate in that, among the privileges I have in my life, I have an incredible partner.”
Aw!! The Archewell co-founder gushed:
“My husband is such a hands-on dad and such a supporter of me and my family. That I don’t take for granted. That is a real blessing. But a lot of people don’t have that same level of support. So I think for us, it’s about putting safeguards in so women and moms especially can not feel like they’re even more vulnerable when they go online.”
She’s certainly speaking from experience! See the full conversation (below)!
Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments!
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