Meghan Markle Opens Up About Being ‘One of the Most Bullied People in the World’

Meghan Markle opened up about her experiences with online bullying when she spoke with a group of young girls in honor of International Day of the Girl.

Larissa May, who founded #HalfTheStory, a nonprofit that aims to help young people navigate the waters of social media, revealed that Meghan, 43, had important conversations with some teens. The Duchess of Sussex was able to get personal with the group when she visited Girls Inc. on October 2 in Santa Barbara, California.

Larissa explained that to help the teenagers in attendance open up about some of their tougher experiences using technology was to “create a space of vulnerability” with the help of Meghan and the CEO of Girls Inc., Stephanie J. Hull.

“With Stephanie and Meghan, we talked about what it really means to grow up in this digital age,” Larissa told Vanity Fair in an interview published on October 11.

Larissa continued, “We did an activity where we talked through a bunch of scenarios, and Meghan talked about being one of the most bullied people in the world. We had girls wave these little emoji signs and talk about how each one of these scenarios would have impacted them emotionally.”

This wasn’t the first time the mom of two has discussed the negativity that’s often aimed toward her. In March, Meghan participated in the SXSW Opening Day Keynote Panel during the discussion titled “Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On and Off the Screen.”

“Social media really has become the place for women and girls to be scrutinized, objectified, bullied, and unfortunately I know this is something you are all too familiar with. How have you been able to manage the seemingly endless toxicity that comes at you?” moderator Errin Haines asked the Suits alum.

“Yes, social media is an environment that I think has a lot of that,” Meghan answered. “You know I think, it’s really interesting as I can reflect on it, I keep my distance from it right now just for my own well-being, but the bulk of the bullying and abuse that I was experiencing on social media and online was when I was pregnant with Archie and Lili, and with a newborn with each of them.”

She continued, “You just think about that, and to really wrap your head around why people would be so hateful. It’s not catty, it’s cruel. And why you would do that, certainly, when you’re pregnant, with a newborn, we all know as moms, it’s such a tender and sacred time. I think you know, you could either succumb to it, nearly succumb to how painful that it is, and maybe in some regards, because I was pregnant, that mammalian instinct just kicked in, you do everything you can to protect your child, and as a result, protect yourself too.”

While Meghan admitted that the world of social media still has a lot of work to do as it relates to bullying, she also said that it was “disturbing” that so much of the online vitriol was “women completely spewing it to other women.”

“As moms, and as I was saying earlier when you’re a new mom, it’s a really vulnerable time. The effect that social media can have on new mothers, even just the lack of sleep because they spend all this time scrolling,” Meghan added. “It can also be really dizzying for them to see this portrayal of motherhood that looks so perfect when we all know it’s not perfect.”