This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have announced the launch of a new network aimed at helping parents whose children have been traumatized as a result of social media use.
On Sunday, Aug. 4 (which just so happened to be the Duchess of Sussex's birthday), the couple sat down for a rare joint interview with CBS Sunday Morning's Jane Pauley to discuss their newly launched program titled The Parents Network via their Archewell Foundation.
The network is not entirely new—its pilot program was launched two years ago. Now, the initiative is available for parents living in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.
While discussing the couple's goal of making social media safer for children and helping parents who have even lost children to suicide as a result of online bullying, Markle opened up about her own suicidal ideation when she was a working member of the royal family.
"When you've been through any level of pain or trauma, I believe part of our healing journey—certainly part of mine—is being able to be really open about it," Meghan said during the interview. "I really scraped the surface on my experience, but I do think that I would never want someone else to feel that way and I would never want someone else to be making those sort of plans and I would never want someone else to not be believed."
The Duchess of Sussex went on to say that if her decision to share her story and what she has "overcome" will "save someone or encourage someone in their life to really, genuinely check in on them and not assume that the appearance is good so everything is OK, then that's worth it."
"I'll take a hit for that," she added.
Last week, a clip of the previously recorded interview aired in anticipation of Sunday's full segment. In it, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex also discussed their own children—Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet—and their desire to protect them at all cost, especially as they get older and start using social media and will become more at risk for online bullying.
"Our kids are young—they're 3 and 5. They're amazing," Markle said. "But all you want to do as parents is protect them. So as we can see what's happening in the online space, we know that there's a lot of work to be done there, and we're just happy to be able to be a part of change for good."
"At this point we’ve got to the stage where almost every parent needs to be a first responder," Prince Harry continued. "And even the best first responders in the world wouldn’t be able to tell the signs of possible suicide. That is the terrifying piece of this."
In 2023, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy released an advisory titled Social Media and Youth Mental Health, which highlighted evidence that social media is actively harming young people's mental health. In addition, the American Psychological Association (APA) released it's own health advisory, also warning the public to the potential harm of prolonged social media use.
Markle encouraged people to look at the issue through the lens of a parent who has lost a child as a result of online bullying.
"Look at it through the lens of 'What if it was my daughter? What if it was my son?'" she said. "If you look at it through the lens as a parent, there's no way to see that any other way than to try to find a solution."
