Meghan Markle has spoken about the "unbearable grief" she experienced after suffering a miscarriage.
“Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few.” She said.
In an incredibly moving account written for the New York Times, Markle describes feeling a sharp pain while she was holding her son, Archie.
"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.
"Hours later, I lay in a hospital bed, holding my husband’s hand. 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 then goes on to recall a moment last year during which she was trying to put on a "brave face" in the public eye.
A journalist asked her "“Are you OK?” to which she replied:
“Thank you for asking.
“Not many people have asked if I’m OK.”
Her account for the Times continues:
"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?”"
Credit: 1994Meghan goes on to discuss the coronavirus pandemic and the devastating effect it has had on families, and also writes about Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, as well as decrying the the slow decay of the concept of 'truth' in America.
"Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few." Markle writes.
"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."
You can read Meghan Markle's full, incredibly moving account, here.