Meghan Markle rejects British ‘stiff upper lip’ as she’s determined to ‘thrive’ and not just survive
MEGHAN Markle revealed that she tried to adopt the “British sensibility of a stiff upper lip” when she first married into the Royal Family – but claims keeping quiet about the “unfair” scrutiny she faces is “really damaging”.
In last night’s ITV documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, the Duchess opened up about the struggles she’s encountered since becoming a Royal and admitted she wants to “thrive” in her new role instead of merely “surviving”.
Addressing the widespread criticism the couple faced this summer, Meghan admitted: “I’ve said for a long time to H – that’s what I call him – it is not enough to just survive something, right?
“That’s not the point of life. You’ve got the thrive.
“You’ve got to feel happy and I think I really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a stiff upper lip. I tried, I really tried.”
However, the new mum claims that burying her emotions would do more harm than good.
She continued: “But I think what that does internally is probably really damaging.”
The Duchess then went on to explain how she never expected becoming a member of the Royal Family would be “easy” but “thought it would be fair”.
She added: “That’s the part that’s really hard to reconcile. Just take each day as it comes.”
When the presenter argued that public scrutiny can be part of living with “incredible power, privilege, fame and wealth”, Meghan replied: “The good thing is that I’ve got my baby and I’ve got my husband and they’re the best.”
During the interview, Meghan also held back tears when discussing her “struggle” as a “vulnerable” new mum.
“Look, any woman especially when they are pregnant you’re really vulnerable and so that was made really challenging, and then when you have a newborn – you know…
“And especially as a woman, it’s a lot. So you add this on top of just trying to be a new mom or trying to be a newlywed it’s, well…
“And, also thank you for asking, because not many people have asked if I’m OK. But it’s a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes.”
Tom asks her directly if it is fair to say that it has been a struggle, and looking emotional, Meghan replies: “Yes.”
In last night’s documentary, Prince Harry also admitted that he and William have grown apart as they’re on “different paths”.
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