Meghan Needs a Little More Respect

The experience I have had is that once you start talking about [experiencing a mental health struggle], you realize that actually you’re part of quite a big club.

Prince Harry

I’m not a huge fan of Megan Markle however I’m actually starting to feel a little sorry for her, yes, she’s a multimillionaire, yes, she has the fame and yes, she married a prince of the realm, albeit a ginger one! In an episode of her podcast, “Archetypes” she was joined by actress Constance Wu, comedian and writer Jenny Slate, and activist and Bollywood star Deepika Padukone, the title of the episode was, “The Decoding of Crazy.”

In the intro, Meghan said, “I feel pretty strongly about this word… this label, crazy… the way that it's thrown around so casually and the damage it's wrought on society and women, frankly, everywhere – from relationships to families being shattered, reputations destroyed, and careers ruined."

She added that the stigma surrounding the word has a silencing effect – "this effect where women experiencing real mental health issues, they get scared, they stay quiet, they internalize, and they repress for far too long."

The clip came after World Mental Health Day, which fell on October 10 last year.

On the podcast, Meghan spoke of her own mental health struggles and experience with the stigma. She described how Harry got her a referral to a mental health professional when she was at her “worst point.”

“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. And I called this woman,” Meghan said. “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 can literally hear her going, “Wait, sorry. I'm just. Who is this?” Um, and saying I need help. And she could hear the dire state that I was in.”

Meghan continued, “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.”

Though she didn't provide more details about her experience, Meghan previously addressed, in her interview with Oprah Winfrey, the mental health issues she faced after marrying Harry and becoming a senior member of the royal family. She said that at one point, she “didn't want to be alive anymore.”

Padukone said in the podcast that her mental health problems began in 2014, and came “out of the blue.”

“I woke up one morning and everything was going well. My films were a success. Personally, beautiful relationships, supportive family. Like, it just sort of came out of the blue. I woke up, I fell. I – you know, my blood pressure dropped. And then the next thing I know, my life just felt meaningless,” Padukone said. “I didn't want to live anymore, you know, I just. I didn't want to get out of bed. And I struggled with this for, for many, many months. I would just break down at the drop of a hat. Not be present. Like, I'd be talking to someone or be, you know, be at an event or be engaging with someone, but, like, my mind's somewhere else. And I'd, I'd never felt like that before. So just, all of it just felt, like, so disorienting. And my parents were visiting me and the day they were ready to leave, I was sitting and watching them pack and I started crying again. And my mom was like, “What's wrong? Is it your relationship? Has someone said something to you?” I said, “I don't know. I've been feeling like this for many, many months. I just keep crying. I don't know why.” It's feeling of hopelessness. You just feel hopeless. You feel like there's no point in living.”

Eventually, Padukone shared her story on TV in India, and she was applauded for her honesty and bravery.

“I mean, there's two parts to this,” she said. “One is: I think where people struggle the most, especially in India, where there's so much stigma attached to mental illness. One is creating the awareness. Most of us don't even know that we're struggling with mental illness. And second, if we are, to destigmatize it, to let people know that it's okay to seek help and to let caregivers know that it's okay for someone to go through this. It's the same way we have physical ailments. Our mind is very much a part of our body. But somehow, when it comes to mental illness, we start treating our minds like outside of our bodies.”

Meghan replied, “You're right. You know, my husband works a lot in, with the military community as a veteran working with people with invisible injuries – they call them that all the time. Right. If you suffer from post-traumatic stress, it's the thing that you can't see. And if you can't see it, it is just either ignored or brushed under the carpet.”

Meghan and Harry have long been advocates for mental health awareness and treatment, and the Duke of Sussex himself has said he speaks to a life coach to work on his mental fitness.

As I said at the beginning, I’m not a massive fan however, it takes guts to talk about your mental health and your demons, to get three other high profile celebrities to share their experience with thousands of people takes lots of guts! I personally know what it’s like to be under so much stress you just don’t know where to turn next, thankfully I’ve never had thoughts of not wanting to live anymore however, I can see how that spiral of despair could lead to that. I also know how hard it is to admit you have a problem and how difficult it is to open up to someone about your demons so, much respect to Megan for sharing her experience, talking about it really helps both you and the thousands of others out there that think they’re on their own!

What’s on this week?