Meghan Markle says the memory of her emotional TV interview from last year helped her get through a miscarriage
- Meghan Markle said the memory of a journalist asking if she was OK helped her get through a miscarriage.
- Writing in an op-ed for the New York Times, the Duchess of Sussex said she was pregnant with her second child in July this year when she experienced "a sharp cramp" one morning.
- "I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second," she wrote.
- She said the experience made her recall her now-famous interview for an ITV documentary about her royal tour in 2019, where she said: "Not many people have asked if I'm OK."
- The duchess wrote: "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?'"
The Duchess of Sussex said the memory of her now-famous TV interview, where a journalist asked if she was OK, helped her get through a miscarriage.
Meghan Markle said she was pregnant with her second child when she suffered a miscarriage in July this year. Writing in an op-ed for the New York Times, titled "The Losses We Share," the duchess said she felt a "sharp cramp" one morning when changing her son Archie's diaper, and realized that she was losing her unborn baby.
"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," Markle wrote. "I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second."
The duchess went on to describe her experience in the hospital later that day with Prince Harry by her side.
"I felt the clamminess of his palm and kissed his knuckles, wet from both our tears. Staring at the cold white walls, my eyes glazed over. I tried to imagine how we'd heal," she wrote.
The former working royal said the experience brought back a memory from her and Harry's royal tour of South Africa in October 2019, when she was interviewed for an ITV documentary.
During the interview, journalist Tom Bradby asked Markle if she was OK, and she responded with the now-famous line: "Not many people have asked if I'm OK."
The duchess said: "Look, any woman, especially when they're 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 really — 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 ... " she said, trailing off.
She added: "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."
Recalling the moment in the op-ed, Markle wrote: "I answered him honestly, not knowing that what I said would resonate with so many — new moms and older ones, and anyone who had, in their own way, been silently suffering. My off-the-cuff reply seemed to give people permission to speak their truth. But it wasn't responding honestly that helped me most, it was the question itself."
She 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?'"
The duke and duchess had not previously announced that Markle was pregnant with their second child. It is unknown exactly how far along the duchess was in her pregnancy.
Representatives for the Duchess of Sussex declined to comment when contacted by Insider.
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