All the taboos Meghan Markle has broken
'Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable pain, experienced by many, but of which few speak,' says the Duchess in a story in which she also reflects on loneliness and mentions racial violence and politics.
The latest and sad revelation of Meghan Markle is going around the world: last July she and Prince Harry lost what would have been their second child. The actress wanted to tell her experience to The New York Times - half a winner of 125 Pullitzer Awards and one of the most prestigious in the United States - and she did so in a letter signed by her, published in the opinion section and in the who defines herself as “mother, feminist and defender”. The story, which is titled The Losses We Share, is deeply heartbreaking and told in such a human way that it is impossible not to empathize with it. By the way, the Duchess of Sussex adds a few taboos to her list that she is willing to break.
"Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable pain, experienced by many, but few talk about," Meghan reflects. "In the grief of our loss, my husband and I discovered that, in a room of 100 women, 10 to 20 would have suffered a miscarriage. Yet despite the striking similarity of this grief, the conversation remains taboo , plagued with (unjustified) shame and perpetuating a cycle of lonely grief. "
If Meghan has shown something, it is that taboos do not go with her. One by one, Harry's wife has been touching on many of the topics that usually do not enter the conversations of royalty, a custom that has been increased after her departure from the Royal Family. While it is true that other women in the house, such as the Countess of Wessex or Zara Phillips, have made it known that they had suffered an abortion, certainly none has done it like Meghan, with an enormously revealing account of her family life, in the one who also reflects on indifference to the pain of others and who invites other women who have experienced the same thing to talk about it. In fact, the reactions have not been long in coming and social networks have been flooded with support and similar stories from known people - such as some popular presenters from the United Kingdom - and strangers.
In the letter, which has several readings and some well-aimed darts, the Duchess of Sussex also recalls her interview during the tour of South Africa in which she breaks down when the journalist asks her if she is okay, since, as she herself revealed, she is not a lot of people had asked him that lately. "I was exhausted. I was breastfeeding our baby and I was trying to keep a brave face in the eyes of the public," Meghan recalls. And so, like someone who doesn't want it, she puts other issues on the table: breastfeeding and the first months, while the background is loneliness and the pressure she felt after her motherhood.
It must be remembered that these words were widely commented and Kamala Harris herself, now vice president of the United States, showed her support via social networks, who was going to say that months later it would be Meghan who would be promoting the vote in an election of the that Harris would be victorious. On the other hand, as far as motherhood is concerned, Meghan had already been making her own decisions despite being in a house that was expected to follow the steps set by the Duchess of Cambridge, for example, considering the option to give birth to Archie at home, a decision that was widely discussed. From that moment, the Sussexes were laying all the stones of a very personal path that would lead them to live in Los Angeles and do things their way.
In her letter, Meghan does not leave aside the initially uncomfortable issues that are now a custom that she approaches with total ease: racial and political violence. The Duchess remembers Breonna Taylor and George Floyd - whose deaths at the hands of the police sparked the latest wave of the Black Lives Matter movement that the Sussexes have supported; and reflects on the last elections: “It seems that we no longer agree on what is true. We are not only fighting for our opinions on the facts; we are polarized on whether the fact is, in fact, a fact. We disagree on whether science is real. We disagree on whether an election has been won or lost. We disagree on the value of the commitment ”.
At this point it is no longer surprising, but the decision of the Sussexes to promote the vote during the last American elections generated a great controversy in the United Kingdom and Donald Trump herself made reference to it during a press conference at the White House. They have broken the eternal taboo of royalty that has the custom of not interfering in any matter that minimally borders on politics, much less when it can be considered interference in a foreign country. Although this is debatable, since she was born in the United States.
Finally, Meghan reflects on the need to ask others if they are well, especially in a health situation that has fostered social isolation. “We have learned that when people ask how we are doing, and when they actually listen to the answer, with open hearts and minds, the burden of pain often becomes lighter, for all of us. By being invited to share our pain, together we take the first steps towards healing ”, concludes the Duchess in a story that has been published by one of the major media in the United States. A dart for all those who predicted that out of the Royal House, the Sussexes would lose all public relevance. Now, far from the palace and its leaks, they have shown that they mark the how and when.
