She shouldn’t be blamed for Megxit

Conspiracy theorists (your mother and your neighbour) are convinced Meghan has manipulated Harry into the situation they’re in right now.

Let’s be real: Prince Harry is his own man, and should be held responsible for his own actions and decisions. In fact, he’s repeatedly stated that Meghan is by no means to blame for his walkout. In fact, he even recently revealed that he knew he wanted to leave the royal family as early as his 20s.

In an episode of Dax Shepard’s The Armchair Expert podcast, Harry said he quickly realised he didn’t want to be a royal when he reached adulthood. He said: “In my early 20s, it was a case of, ‘I don’t want this job, I don’t want to be here, I don’t want to be doing this, look what it did to my mum’.”

Meghan did her best as a royal

Royal life is no walk in the park, and quite frankly, I can’t think of many people who would actually be good at it. The relentless rules, procedures and policies are enough to drive anyone over the edge.

Meghan however stayed “on” during her entire time as a member of the royal family, and never once dropped the ball. No public meltdowns, no outbursts – in fact, no drama from her at all, even during the darkest times.

Her suicide confession was a wake-up call

Speaking with Oprah Winfrey as part of the duke’s new Apple TV+ docuseries titled: The Me You Can’t See, Harry revealed that moments before they were snapped smiling at a charity event, Meghan had revealed her suicidal thoughts to him.

“Because of the system that we were in and the responsibilities and the duties that we had, we had a quick cuddle. And then we had to get to the Royal Albert Hall for a charity event and then step out into a wall of cameras and pretend as though everything was OK,” he said.

That’s pretty dark stuff. But following years of negative headlines and public backlash, I wasn’t shocked – I was sad for her. For Meghan to admit to reaching out and repeatedly asking for help, shows how serious the situation was. And the fact that it was denied and ignored, as Harry claimed to Oprah, is horrific.

Should we really all be saying mean things and picking on the fragile girl with mental health struggles right now? I’m going to go with “no”.

Everyone deserves to do what they love

Meghan has received a lot of flak for the royal couple’s showbiz deals with Netflix and Spotify, with many people (your company receptionist and your aunt) calling her “fame-hungry”, spreading Facebook fake news about her plotting her royal return to Hollywood all along.

First up, Prince Harry himself told Oprah that the deals happened last-minute due to their financial situation. “The Netflixes and Spotifys of it all was never part of the plan,” Harry insisted.

That aside, Meghan worked her way up in Hollywood through countless minor roles, advertisements and a stint on Deal or No Deal, and eventually landed herself a major role on a hit TV show – the woman has passion for and dedication to her craft! So after everything that’s happened, it must be a relief for Meghan to be able to dip her toes back into an industry she knows and loves.

Besides, there are no romantic comedies or reality shows planned for the foreseeable future, and the content from Meghan and Harry’s Archewell Studios so far is all motivational, inspirational and raises awareness surrounding topics like mental health. And that’s so bad because ... ?

Who cares if she planned it all?

Many royal fans and followers (and half your friendship circle) claim Meghan cleverly plotted her way up the ranks of fame and into a prince’s heart to get what she wanted in life.

Now I don’t know about you, but that sounds like the stereotypical modern day dream come true for millions. And Meghan got the full shebang, the works, real titles included! Instead of side-eyeing her, we should be “you go, girl!”-ing her.

Is Meghan opportunistic? Perhaps. Did she play her cards right? Indeed! But that doesn’t mean she’s done it in such a dramatically conniving way the trolls would like us all to believe. She merely followed her dreams and searched for her happy ending, and where’s the crime in that? Impressively, she managed to become one of the most famous women in the world while doing so. That’s pretty inspirational, if you ask me.

Family drama is normal

Much like Harry’s relationship with Prince Charles, Meghan and her dad Thomas Markle have had their fair share of ups and downs over time, even before Meghan became famous.

According to her childhood boyfriend, Joshua Silverstein, Meghan and Thomas’ relationship has always been “complicated”.

“I did know that Meghan’s relationship with her dad was complicated and I understood that as most teenager-to-parent relationships are,” he explained. “Being there when Meghan’s parents were divorced at that time … it’s hard raising your kids without the secondary parent. It’s all challenging.”

Family history and feuds aside, I doubt she enjoyed becoming estranged from her father so publicly, right before the wedding, for the whole world to witness.

Just imagine your own family being thrown into the global spotlight overnight like that – even your aunt Tammy who regularly posts racist rants on Facebook and who got arrested for public indecency once. Most families would fail miserably.

The Oprah interview was her truth

Oprah Winfrey is the queen of talk and has delivered some of the most iconic stories and interviews of our generation (fact, Google it), so royal fans were left pretty gobsmacked when it was revealed the couple were doing a tell-all.

And why not? Since becoming a royal, Meghan had to practically disappear from the public eye, delete her social media accounts, follow the rules and not say anything while the whole world talked about her. And everyone (your entire contact list) has had an opinion in recent years. So when Meghan left the royal family, she had every right to have her say, tell her story and defend herself. Right?

It’s not exactly like she’s running around town badmouthing the royals, showing off her child to the paparazzi, or posting controversial tweets – she’s remained pretty dignified throughout it all, and could do a lot more damage if she wanted to.

Lastly, she’s heavily pregnant right now

Can everyone take a moment to remember that Meghan is heavily pregnant right now and is due to give birth in the next few weeks?

Pregnancy is meant to be a happy time (sort of), and is also a painful and uncomfortable time, so we hope Meghan has her feet up, feels comfortable and is living her best life. Because no woman deserves to be depressed or distressed right before giving birth.

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If you are having suicidal thoughts, or you know someone who is, help is available. For Hong Kong, dial +852 2896 0000 for The Samaritans or +852 2382 0000 for Suicide Prevention Services. In the US, call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on +1 800 273 8255. For a list of other nations’ helplines, see this page.