Prince Harry is sharing more insight about how to help a loved one facing thoughts of suicide following his own experience with wife Meghan Markle.
During a bonus town hall episode of his and Oprah Winfrey’s Apple TV+ series on mental health, “The Duke of Sussex shared what he’s learned about being there for someone who is experiencing feelings of wanting to end their life.
“So many people are afraid of being on the receiving end of that conversation because they don’t feel as though they have the right tools to be able to give the right advice,” he said. “But what you’re saying is you’re there. Listen, because listening and being part of that conversation is without doubt the best first step that you can take.'”
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During her and Harry’s sit-down interview with Oprah in March, Meghan first revealed she experienced suicidal ideation during her pregnancy with son Archie. She told the television personality that she shared those thoughts with Harry shortly before they attended a charity event at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Harry shared his perspective on that night in an earlier episode of “The Me You Can’t See,” which was released last week.
“What perhaps people don’t understand is earlier that evening, Meghan decided to share with me the suicidal thoughts and the practicalities of how she was going to end her life,” he said. The scariest thing for her was her clarity of thought. She hadn’t lost it. She wasn’t crazy. She wasn’t self-medicating, be it through pills or through alcohol. She was absolutely sober. She was completely sane yet in the quiet of night these thoughts woke her up.”
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Harry admitted that he was “somewhat ashamed” of how he dealt with Meghan’s revelation, which was made shortly before the charity event.
“Of course, because of the system that we’re in and the responsibilities and the duties that we had, we had a quick cuddle and then we had to get changed and had to jump in a convoy with a police escort and drive to the Royal Albert Hall for a charity event and then step out into a wall of cameras and pretend as though everything’s okay. There wasn’t an option to say, ‘You know what? Tonight we’re not gonna go’ because just imagine the stories that come from that.”
Harry revealed that it was Meghan’s desire not to repeat history that kept her from taking her life.
“The thing that stopped her from seeing it through was how unfair it would be on me after everything that had happened to my mum and to now be put in a position of losing another woman in my life with a baby inside of her: our baby,” he said.
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