Meghan Markle: ‘I am the most trolled person in the world’

Meghan Markle has said she’s the most trolled person in the world. 

Meghan Markle says she was the “most trolled person in the world” last year in a new mental health podcast with Prince Harry.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex joined Californian high school students on their ‘Teenager Therapy’ podcast to mark Mental Health Day – and made a passionate plea for anyone suffering to speak out.

During the broadcast, aired yesterday, the Duke and Duchess discussed with teens Gael, Kayla, and Thomas about the importance of self-care and mental health struggles amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The pair, who discovered the podcast from a New York Times profile, also discussed the unique mental health difficulties of being in the public eye.

During the interview, Meghan said she was the world’s most trolled person last year – and described the online abuse she’d received as “unsurvivable”.

She said: “I’m told that in 2019 I was the most trolled person in the entire world, male or female.

“Eight months of that I wasn’t even visible – I was on maternity leave or with a baby.

“But what was able to be manufactured and churned out, it’s almost unsurvivable.

“I don’t care if you’re 15 or you’re 25 – if people are saying things about you that aren’t true, what that does to your mental and emotional health is so damaging.”

Prince Harry also hit out at online trolls who “hide behind usernames”, adding: “There are things that are said digitally that nobody would say in person”.

The Duke also said that, in the modern age, vulnerability was a “sign of strength” and not a weakness.

Harry continued: “I think putting your self-care as a priority is hugely important, because vulnerability is not a weakness, showing vulnerability in today’s world especially, is a strength.”

He also praised the teenage hosts for their candid approach to talking about mental health, and later told the podcast that he meditates.

During the podcast, Prince Harry also discussed of the immense mental health difficulties generated by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Duke said: “I think if you could safely say that 90% of people on planet Earth have suffered some form of trauma, some form of loss, some form of grief, and that’s different, it varies to every single person.

“Then certainly for this year, through Covid, I think it’s probably safe to say that 99.9%, if not 100% of people, have experienced some form of one of those, all those, at the same time.”

Despite the pandemic, Meghan said she is “doing well”, adding: “The past few months have been layered for everyone, we certainly can’t complain, we are fortunate we all have our health, we have rooves over our heads.”

Harry added: “The unique part of our work is whatever you’re going through and whatever other people are going through, it’s all relative to that environment that they’re in.