Duchess of Sussex and former American actress Meghan Markle spoke about the online abuse she encountered when she married into the royal family. People Magazine reported that Markle appeared alongside Prince Harry on the ‘Teenager Therapy’ podcast, hosted by five seniors at Anaheim high school, California, and discussed the toll that social media can take on someone’s mental health.
“Yes, it’s a great way to connect, but it also ends up being a place where there’s a lot of disconnection,” the Duchess of Sussex 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.”
Recalling the same year when she was pregnant with son Archie, she said, “Now, 8 months of that I wasn’t even visible — I was on maternity leave or with a baby. But what was able to be manufactured and churned out, it’s almost unsurvivable.”
“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,” the 39-year-old added.
Meghan and Harry appeared on the podcast for World Mental Health Day. The conversation was recorded earlier this week with three of the five hosts — Gael, Kayla and Thomas — at a coronavirus-compliant shooting location (including masks) in Montecito, California, where the couple recently moved with one-year-old Archie.
“Vulnerability is not a weakness, showing vulnerability in today’s world especially is a strength,” Harry, the Duke of Sussex, said. “The more we talk about it the more it becomes normal, and it is normal.”
The ‘Suits’ actress said part of what the pair hope to accomplish through their advocacy is to emphasise that “we all know what it feels like to have our feelings hurt.”
