Meghan Markle revealed in a new op-ed for the New York Times that she had a miscarriage in July.
"It was a July morning that began as ordinarily as any other day: Make breakfast. Feed the dogs. Take vitamins. Find that missing sock. Pick up the rogue crayon that rolled under the table. Throw my hair in a ponytail before getting my son from his crib," she wrote. “After changing his diaper, I felt a sharp cramp. 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.”
Markle wrote that both she and Prince Harry cried when they arrived at the hospital and wondered how they would “heal" from this. But soon they realized how many others have suffered a similar loss. “Yet despite the staggering commonality of this pain, the conversation remains taboo, riddled with (unwarranted) shame, and perpetuating a cycle of solitary mourning,” Markle wrote in her piece.
She continued, “Some have bravely shared their stories; they have opened the door, knowing that when one person speaks truth, it gives license for all of us to do the same. We have learned that when people ask how any of us are doing, and when they really listen to the answer, with an open heart and mind, the load of grief often becomes lighter—for all of us. In being invited to share our pain, together we take the first steps toward healing.”
Markle added, “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?’”
It's a fair question, she says, given the losses so many have suffered in 2020—many connected to the global pandemic. The killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd and the disputed election have also broken the nation, as Markle pointed out in her piece. "We are polarized over whether the fact is, in fact, a fact," she wrote.
She continued, “That polarization, coupled with the social isolation required to fight this pandemic, has left us feeling more alone than ever."
But she ended her essay on a hopeful note. “So this Thanksgiving, as we plan for a holiday unlike any before—many of us separated from our loved ones, alone, sick, scared, divided and perhaps struggling to find something, anything, to be grateful for—let us commit to asking others, ‘Are you OK?’” she wrote. “As much as we may disagree, as physically distanced as we may be, the truth is that we are more connected than ever because of all we have individually and collectively endured this year.”
And as for the big question, “Are we OK?,” Markle has an answer: “We will be.”
Read Meghan Markle's entire New York Times op-ed here.
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