The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle has revealed that she suffered a miscarriage in July 2020.
She opened up about having a miscarriage in a candid op-ed in The New York Times, where she addressed UK citizens ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
In an article titled “The Losses We Share,” Meghan Markle describes how she felt a “sharp cramp” on a morning while she changing Archie’s [her first son] diaper.
She said, “After changing his diaper, I felt a sharp cramp. 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.”
“I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second.”
Meghan who described the loss as an “almost unbearable grief” said,
“Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few. In the pain of our loss, my husband and I discovered that in a room of 100 women, 10 to 20 of them will have suffered from miscarriage. Yet despite the staggering commonality of this pain, the conversation remains taboo, riddled with (unwarranted) shame, and perpetuating a cycle of solitary mourning.”
She added that her husband, Prince Harry was terribly hurt by the incident,
“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 said the experience reminded her of a moment during their tour of South Africa last year, when a journalist asked if she was OK, to which she replied: “Thank you for asking. Not many people have asked if I’m OK.”
Ahead of the November 26 holiday, Markle urged her audience to always look out for one another in trying times.
“So this Thanksgiving, as we plan for a holiday unlike any before — many of us separated from our loved ones, alone, sick, scared, divided and perhaps struggling to find something, anything, to be grateful for,” she added.
“…let us commit to asking others, ‘Are you OK?’ As much as we may disagree, as physically distanced as we may be, the truth is we are more connected than ever because of all we have individually and collectively endured this year.
“We are adjusting to a new normal where faces are concealed by masks, but it’s forcing us to look into one another’s eyes — sometimes filled with warmth, other times with tears.
“For the first time, in a long time, as human beings, we are really seeing one another. Are we OK? We will be.”
It is unknown how far along Meghanwas in her pregnancy when she had the miscarriage. The duke and duchess had not announced that they were expecting a second child.
