One of the things that we’re pretty guilty of is assuming that life in the Royal Family is pretty easy and carefree. Sure, royals have their good days and their bad days just like anyone else. But it’s historically difficult to feel too bad for anyone who is insanely wealthy and absurdly famous.
At least, that’s what we thought before we took a closer look at Meghan Markle’s life as a member of the Royal Family. In the last few years, Meghan has endured betrayal by those closest to her and nearly lost her life on multiple occasions. Just what happened to her and how did she survive? Keep reading to discover the most horrifying details about Meghan’s life as a royal!
Dealing with royal racism
During her and Prince Harry’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan ended up spilling nearly all the tea in England. The interview is full of many explosive moments, but none were quite as wild as when Meghan accused the Royal Family of some major league racism.
Meghan alleged that unnamed members of the Royal Family expressed concerns about the skin color of Archie, her then-unborn first child. In other words, they worried that the child would look too Black! While Oprah later revealed that the younger woman wasn’t talking about either Queen Elizabeth or Prince Philip. That’s a bit of a relief, but now we’ll never stop wondering which royals are secretly racists.
RELATED: Prince Harry’s Best Advice For Archie May Surprise You
Her father shamelessly exploited Meghan’s fame
Sadly, not all of Meghan Markle’s family betrayals came from the family she married into. Her own father, Thomas Markle, got into some hot water when he posed for staged paparazzi photos ahead of her wedding in exchange for an undisclosed sum that may have been over $125,000.
Meghan’s dad cozying up to skeezy paparazzi was already enough to make Meghan look terrible to the royals and to the world. But it got worse when (as she told CBS News) Meghan gave dear old Dad a chance to come clean and he didn’t. She took this betrayal so seriously that Thomas didn’t appear in the wedding, and the two have remained largely estranged ever since.
Media harassment started before she tied the knot
Needless to say, Meghan Markle has spent the last few years being doggedly pursued by the press. To this, cynics might reply that giving up much of your privacy is the price you pay for becoming a rich and famous royal. However, in a sad irony, the predatory paparazzi pursuit of Meghan began before she even tied the knot!
The royals themselves made this clear in a 2016 official post announcing that Harry and Meghan were officially a couple. In part, the post reads “The past week has seen a line crossed. [Prince Harry’s] girlfriend, Meghan Markle, has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment.”
That abuse and harassment included a headline about Prince Harry’s girlfriend appearing on Pornhub. In reality, the story simply referred to her scenes from Suits appearing on the pornographic site, but the salacious headline was used merely to make Meghan look bad…something that would sadly become a tabloid tradition.
RELATED: Harry And Meghan: A Marriage In Serious Trouble?
Tormented by thoughts of suicide
Love her or hate her, Meghan Markle is only human, and the constant influx of negative media attention began taking its toll on her. That media frenzy very nearly took her life as well: Meghan began contemplating suicide during her first pregnancy.
This is another bombshell revelation that Meghan dropped during her and Harry’s interview with Oprah. According to Meghan, she’d lay awake at night and try to understand where all this media hatred for her was coming from. It got to the point that she “just didn’t want to be alive anymore,” so she turned to the Royal Family for help.
Unfortunately, the royals told her she couldn’t get professional help because that would make the Royal Family look bad. Just like that, Meghan discovered that the royal reputation was worth more to “The Firm” than her life! Fortunately, Harry has been much more supportive than the rest of his family, and he didn’t hesitate to move him and Meghan out of England and away from royal responsibilities so that she could focus on her happiness and her mental health.
A stress-induced miscarriage
Believe it or not, the negative media focus on Meghan Markle had yet another awful effect on her life. To hear her husband Harry tell it, negative tabloid coverage also contributed to the miscarriage Meghan suffered during her second pregnancy.
This is an accusation Harry made during their Harry & Meghan docuseries on Netflix. He claimed that the stress induced by Meghan’s lawsuit against Associated Newspapers (she sued because they violated her privacy, printing part of a letter she wrote to her father) caused her to lose the baby. Meghan ultimately won that lawsuit, but given the awful info about the miscarriage, it’s fair to say this was a very hollow victory.