Meghan Markle Says Being Cyberbullied in 2019 Was Almost ‘Almost Unsurvivable’: ‘I Was the Most Trolled Person in the Entire World’
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The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, reflected on the intense online scrutiny she faced regularly in 2019 — telling the Teenage Therapy Podcast that the trolling was so intense it was “almost unsurvivable.”
Markle and her husband Prince Harry spoke to the podcast on Saturday to raise awareness for World Mental Health Day, and the two discussed the hardships that accompany being in the public eye.
“I’m told that in 2019 I was the most trolled person in the entire world-male or female,” Markle said about 5 minutes into the interview.
“Now eight months of that I wasn’t even visible. I was on maternity leave or with a baby but what was able to just be manufactured and churned out, it’s almost unsurvivable. That’s so big you can’t even think about what that feels like because I don’t care if you’re 15 or 25 if people are saying things about you that aren’t true what that does to your mental and emotional health is so damaging.”
This is not the first time Markle and Prince Harry have discussed the abuse the Duchess endured in 2019. In the ITV documentary Harry and Meghan: An African Journey, Prince Harry referred to media attention as “constant management,” adding, “But for me and for my wife, of course there’s a lot of stuff that hurts. Especially when the majority of it is untrue.”
Markle’s online abuse was so severe, she has cited it as part of the reason she and Prince Harry decided to step back as senior members of the British Royal family.
The Daily Express, for example, praised Prince William for gifting his wife an avocado to help with morning sickness, and blasted Markle for eating the same food because it is “linked to human rights abuse and drought.”
In March, Victoria Mather also referred to Markle as “five clicks up from trailer trash” while on MSNBC, and dubbed her the “Duchess of Excess” in an article for Air Mail.
“We all know what it feels like to have our feelings hurt,” Markle said after discussing the trolling she faced. “I don’t care if you’re 15 or 25, if people are saying things about you that aren’t true, what that does to your mental and emotional health is so damaging.”
