CULTURE

Meghan Markle On How Prince Harry Helped Her At Her 'Worst Point'

Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, arrive to view floral tributes to Queen Eli...
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After a brief hiatus following the death of Queen Elizabeth, Meghan Markle’s Spotify podcast Archetypes is back and it’s thinking big about the little word “crazy.” Her latest episode, titled “The Decoding of Crazy” and featuring interviews with Constance Wu, Jenny Slate, and Deepika Padukone, tries to get to the root of the word.

In her intro to the ep, the Duchess of Sussex stated she feels “pretty strongly” about the word “crazy” and the “way that it's thrown around so casually” in reference to women in particular.

“The stigma surrounding the word, it also has this silencing effect — this effect where women experiencing real mental health issues, they get scared, they stay quiet, they internalize and repress for far too long,” she said.

Meghan then revealed her own experience with recovering her mental health after years of intense scrutiny from the British press and how her husband, Prince Harry, helped her when she was at her “worst point.”

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“I mean, I think at my worst point, being finally connected to someone that, you know, my husband had found a referral for me to call,” Meghan explained. “And I called this woman. She didn't know I was even calling her. And she was checking out at the grocery store. I could hear the little beep, beep, and I was like, ‘Hi,’ and I'm introducing myself...and saying I need help. And she could hear the dire state that I was in.”

Meghan added, “But I think it's for all of us to be really honest about what it is that you need and to not be afraid to make peace with that, to ask for it.”

The couple eventually stepped down from their roles as working members of the royal family and moved to California, where they’re raising their two children, Archie and Lilibet. But tensions between Harry and his family have remained, though they seemed to be coming together this past September as they recovered from their loss of Queen Elizabeth.

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In March 2021, the Sussexes also spoke about mental health in an interview with Oprah Winfrey. Meghan said she had a lot of trouble even admitting to her husband how much she was struggling and that she was considering ending her own life.

“I was ashamed to say it at the time and ashamed to have to admit it to Harry. But I knew that if I didn't say it — then I would do it,” she said. ”I just didn't want to be alive anymore...That was clear and real and frightening and constant thought.”

She eventually did speak to him about her ideations in 2019 while pregnant with Archie, but they were still obligated to go to an event at Royal Albert Hall that evening.

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She admitted that every time the lights went down in the theater, she was weeping.

“And that's why I think so important for people to remember is you have no idea what's going on for someone behind closed doors. No idea,” Meghan said. “Even the people that smile and shine the brightest lights. You need to have compassion for what it actually potentially going on.”

The couple seems to be far happier since their move, though they have continued to be in the public eye with various charities and other projects, like the Archetypes podcast. Prince Harry recently put in a Zoom appearance at the WellChild Awards, a charity he has been a patron of since 2007 that provides help and support for seriously ill children. During the talk, he was speaking with one younger winner about her service dog when he brought up his family’s supportive pets.

“I tell you what, we all need a dog that keeps us calm. I've got three in this house now. So, we basically have five children,” Harry said. “I've got a black Labrador called Pula, a rescue beagle called Guy. And we got another rescue beagle called Mia. And between the three of them, they charge around chasing squirrels and causing all sorts of problems to us every single day. But they are also emotional, emotional support dogs 100% when they're behaving.”