Meghan Markle has thanked her husband Prince Harry for being an “incredible partner”.
During the SXSW Conference, held on March 8, the Duchess of Sussex was a part of a panel that discussed how social media can be harmful to mothers everywhere.
“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,” Meghan began before sweetly giving a shout out to Harry, who was sitting in the front row.
“I’m fortunate in that, among the privileges I have in my life, I have an incredible partner.
“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,” Meghan said.
“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 continued.
Earlier during the conference, Meghan also spoke out about the many times she’s been bullied online.
Moderator Errin Haines asked, “Social media really has become the place for women and girls to be scrutinised, objectified, bullied, and unfortunately I know this is something you are all too familiar with. How have you been able to manage the seemingly endless toxicity that comes at you?”
And Meghan responded with a poignant answer, revealing she received the most online bullying when she was respectively pregnant with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet in the process.
“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,” Meghan said.
“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 would you do that, certainly, when you’re pregnant, with a newborn, we all know as mums, it’s such a tender and sacred time,” 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.”
