A British Tabloid's Snarky Headline About Meghan Markle Is Drawing Backlash

• Over the weekend, news broke that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are expecting (opens in new tab) their second child together.
• While the response to the news was mostly positive, British tabloid the Daily Star shared the news with a decidedly snarky headline that read, "Publicity-Shy Woman Tells 7.67 BN People: I'm Pregnant."
• The headline has garnered some backlash online, particularly on Twitter and on Mumsnet (opens in new tab), a message board for parents.

When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (opens in new tab) shared the new that they're expecting their second child together, the response was largely positive, which makes sense since the default, polite response to people sharing their joy about growing their family is typically some form of "congratulations."

Harry and Meghan's actual announcement (opens in new tab), which came via a spokesperson, was very brief and didn't contain any details about the pregnancy—like when Meghan is due (opens in new tab) or if the couple knows the sex of the baby yet. In fact, in its entirety, it read, simply: "We can confirm that Archie is going to be a big brother. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are overjoyed to be expecting their second child."

In spite of the innocuous and, overall, vague nature of the announcement, not all of the responses to the news were totally positive. One British tabloid in particular, the Daily Star (opens in new tab), covered the news with the snarky headline: "Publicity-Shy Woman Tells 7.67 BN People: I'm Pregnant."

The biting headline has garnered some backlash online, particularly on Twitter and Mumsnet (opens in new tab), a message board for parents.

Here is a sample of the criticism the headline has drawn on Twitter, where many users pointed out that Meghan (a former actress) has never been publicity-shy so much as she's grown weary of the press after facing years of attacks and that headlines like this one epitomize many of the issues Harry and Meghan have said they have with the media.

Some also pointed out the inherent sexism of the headline, given the fact that the announcement was made jointly by Meghan and Harry (opens in new tab).

Over on Mumsnet (opens in new tab), multiple message boards have been created to discuss the headline and people are sharing their opinions about the headline as well as Meghan and Harry's quest to balance privacy (opens in new tab) with the realities of life as public figures.

"I don't think they want to keep everything a secret, just that they want to share what they want to share and keep some things private," user MyOhMySimon wrote (opens in new tab), defending the couple's decision to share the news. "Yet some people are making it out to seem as if it's one or the other or like it's such a terrible thing to want when even the Queen does this."

Another user, lubeybooby, weighed in on the sexism issue, writing, "Harry wants privacy too, and it's his announcement too—why pick on Megan? Why pick on her full stop, but particularly when it's such a mutual creation like a new child. Also they can't win either way, if she just birthed a child in secret the press would attack her as well when it came out—what are they meant to do exactly? Disgusting."