Meghan Markle Says She Suffered Pregnancy Loss

Nov 25, 2020 by apost team

Meghan Markle, 39, has lost her second child with Prince Harry following a miscarriage, it was revealed today in a piece she wrote for the New York Times. 

According to the heart-wrenching essay, Markle lost her child after experiencing a "sharp cramp" this July, which had her fall to the ground with her son Archie in her arms. 

The piece, titled The Losses We Share, featured a raw account of Meghan Markle's harrowing experience coupled with her dissatisfaction that, although many women suffer miscarriages, the conversation around it remains a taboo. 

What started as a typical summer day, filled with the average parent's errands and responsibilities, took a dark turn soon after changing son Archie's diaper.

"I felt a sharp cramp," Markle wrote. "I dropped to the floor with him in my arms, humming a lullaby to keep us both calm, the cheerful tune a stark contrast to my sense that something was not right."

"I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second."

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Markle recalls being in the hospital with her husband, Prince Harry, as the two tried to process and mourned the loss of their unborn child. 

"Hours later, I lay in a hospital bed, holding my husband's hand," she wrote. "I felt the clamminess of his palm and kissed his knuckles, wet from both our tears."

She explained that her experience prompted her and her husband to research the topic, only to find that a staggering number of women miscarry. However, it is still seldom spoken about publically. 

"In the pain of our loss, my husband and I discovered that in a room of 100 women, 10 to 20 of them will have suffered from miscarriage," Markle wrote. "Yet despite the staggering commonality of this pain, the conversation remains taboo, riddled with (unwarranted) shame, and perpetuating a cycle of solitary mourning."

The article is yet another instance of the former actress breaking away from Royal tradition. While Markle is not the first Royal to suffer the "unbearable grief" of losing a child, she is the first to candidly speak of the experience in public. Sophie, Countess of Wessex, miscarried at six weeks pregnant back in 2001 while Zara Tindall, Queen Elizabeth II's granddaughter, miscarried twice. 

The Royal family generally shies away from sharing personal details or becoming emotional in public, with Queen Elizabeth not once in her 68-year reign speaking of her private life in an interview. 

The move is not unprecedented for Markle. Last year, in a documentary that followed her and her husband on their Royal tour in Africa, journalist Tom Bradby asked Markle if she was "OK," to which she gave a strikingly honest reply. 

"Any woman, especially when they're pregnant, you're really vulnerable, and so that was made really challenging. And then when you have a newborn, you know. And especially as a woman, it's a lot," Markle said. 

At the time, Markle had been facing scrutiny from the English press, which prompted her and her husband to take legal action against tabloids, as stated on their official website. She expressed gratitude for the reporter's concern.

"Thank you for asking because not many people have asked if I'm OK, but it's a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes."

Meghan's conversation with the reporter became especially raw when he asked if it was fair to say that she wasn't really that OK, and if it has been a struggle, to which she responded, "Yes."

Markle recalled this encounter, as well as its importance, in her NYT essay. 

"Are you OK?" a journalist asked me. I answered him honestly, not knowing that what I said would resonate with so many — new moms and older ones, and anyone who had, in their own way, been silently suffering," Markle wrote. "My off-the-cuff reply seemed to give people permission to speak their truth. But it wasn't responding honestly that helped me most, it was the question itself."

That experience helped her realize the importance of that simple question; a question that can help another person feel free to unload a weight off their back. 

"Sitting in a hospital bed, watching my husband's heart break as he tried to hold the shattered pieces of mine, I realized that the only way to begin to heal is to first ask, 'Are you OK?'"

With her piece, Markle hopes to encourage other people to open up about their losses as well. 

"This year has brought so many of us to our breaking points," she wrote. "So, this Thanksgiving, let us commit to asking others, 'Are you OK?'"

Our deepest condolences go out to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as they process their tragic loss.