Meghan Markle said most of the online abuse that she has endured came during her pregnancies and after she gave birth.
At a SXSW keynote panel in Texas on Friday, the Duchess of Sussex talked about her experience dealing with the “toxicity” of social media.
“I keep my distance from it right now for my own well-being — but the bulk of the bullying and abuse that I was experiencing in social media and online was when I was pregnant with Archie and with Lili, and with a newborn with each of them,” she said. “And you just think about that and really wrap your head around why people would be so hateful,” she added. “It’s not catty, it’s cruel.”
Meghan, who has said in a past interview that she suffered “almost unsurvivable” abuse on social media when she was pregnant with Lilibet, has been the subject of relentless — and often racist — public scrutiny since she and Prince Harry went public with their relationship.
At the panel on Friday, Meghan said that while there needs to be more regulation on social media platforms, people can choose not to spread more hate.
“We have a responsibility in all of that,” she said. “The systemic change has to happen at the same time as the cultural change is happening. Because if you’re reading something terrible — terrible — about a woman, why are you sharing it with your friends? Why are you choosing to put that out in the world?”
The couple has talked openly about how her struggle to adapt to the strict confines of royal life led to their decision to step down from their royal duties and move to the U.S. In a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, Meghan revealed that the pressure and isolation of being a royal made her feel suicidal. “I just didn’t want to be alive anymore,” she said in the interview.
Yet despite no longer being working members of the British royal family — and now living in a different country — news items about the family or Meghan’s new ventures continue to bring fresh waves of online abuse and harassment.