It's difficult to imagine coping in Meghan Markle's position (opens in new tab): Not only has she been subject to incessant scrutiny and racist bullying by the media over the past few years, but she's also had to maintain a perfectly happy face lest that same media document her pain. And in the documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, which aired in the U.K. Sunday evening, the Duchess of Sussex opened up about that struggle. "I really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a 'stiff upper lip.' I really tried, but I think that what that does internally is probably really damaging," she told ITV journalist Tom Bradby, as People reports (opens in new tab).
Meghan said she keeps going by taking "each day as it comes," but confirmed what you might have suspected: It's impossible to begin to imagine just how rough it's been. "I think the grass is always greener. You have no idea. It’s really hard to understand what it’s like. I know what it seems like it should be, but it’s a very different thing," she said.
Coping with the media onslaught has been especially difficult because of how unfair and unwarranted it is, Meghan added. "If things were fair … If I’d done something wrong, I’d be the first one to go, 'Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I would never do that,'" she said. "But when people are saying things that are just untrue and they are being told they’re untrue but they’re allowed to still say them—I don’t know anybody in the world who would feel like that’s OK."
"That’s different from just scrutiny. That’s…what would you call that? It’s a really different beast, you know," she said.
Meghan stressed that simply making it through the constant abuse is not enough. "I have said for a long time to H, that’s what I call him, 'It’s not enough to just survive something. That’s not the point of life. You have got to thrive. You have got to feel happy.'" Let's hope the media cruelty abates, and Meghan finally gets the happiness she deserves.
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