Today’s New York Times piece by Meghan Markle pulls no emotional punches when revealing that she had a miscarriage in July: “I knew as I clutched my first-born child that I was losing my second”, she writes, and: “I watched my husband’s heart break as he tried to hold the shattered piece of mine.”
And her critics have pulled no punches either, accusing her on social media of being an attention seeker.
Meghan Markle’s revelations come three days after Prince William and Kate Middleton announced the death of their dog Lupo, and so some have even accused Megan of trying to turn the attention back on herself – even though the NYT article would have had to have been booked some time ago.
The fact that the piece is well written has got other people’s backs up. Someone on Twitter said, “I’m sorry but no one writes in this highly descriptive story telling manner either Meghan Markle is a demon who lacks a soul and all human emotion or this was penned by one of her obedient aides.”
But elsewhere mothers and others – some of whom have also lost babies – have come to her defence.
A few people have taken the opportunity to bash the British press, stating that it not only drove her from the UK, but also brought on the miscarriage.
Others have taken a more measuresd approach. Paula Hankey took to social media to show sympathy but also to advise Meghan to keep her grief private.
Trawling through these comments I got the sense that overall people were more harsh on Meghan on Facebook. This might be because the platform’s older users are more likely to be royalists who don’t like this outsider, and are instead in Kate’s camp.
This poster suggested some of the backlash might have something to do with racism.
Meghan has been the target of racist comments ever since it was unveiled that she was Prince Harry’s girlfriend.
But whatever you think about the real or imaginary role of racism and snobbery in making Meghan and Harry decide to leave the UK, the fact that Meghan miscarried four months after they arrived in the US shoud be a cause for respectful sympathy and perhaps social media silence. A miscarriage is one of the most painful experiences that can happen to a mother, and the fact that Meghan decided to talk about it doesn’t mean everyone else has to as well.
