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Meghan Markle has released the first episode of her new podcast, opening up on the platform about something very personal and very painful.
Talking to Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, the Duchess of Sussex revealed that both she and her guest experienced postpartum preeclampsia… a unique and potentially life-threatening condition marked by high blood pressure and excess protein in the urine shortly after giving birth.
“We both had very similar experiences — though we didn’t know each other at the time — with postpartum, and we both had preeclampsia. Postpartum preeclampsia,” Markle said on air.
The former actress has two kids with Prince Harry: son, Prince Archie, 5; and daughter, Princess Lilibet, 3.
We don’t know exactly when the aforementioned condition hit her.
“It’s so rare and so scary,” Markle continued.
“And you’re still trying to juggle all of these things, and the world doesn’t know what’s happening quietly. And in the quiet, you’re still trying to show up for people – mostly for your children — but those things are huge medical scares.”
Wolfe Herd agreed, saying the condition is “life or death, truly.”
Elsewhere, Markle talked about the Royal Family tradition of introducing a newborn to the world pretty much immediately; just as Princess Diana and Kate Middleton did previously, Markle stood outside with two-day old Archie back in May 2019.
In front of the media and millions watching around the world.
“I could barely face a doorbell delivery for takeout food in a robe,” Wolfe Herd said, prompting a laugh from Meghan.
Markle is a busy woman these days, hosting this new podcast and also a Netflix show everyone hates.
“What I do love the most about having young kids, in this chapter while I’m building [business], is the perspective that it brings because you’re building something while your child’s going through potty training…and both are just as important,” she said on this episode.
“It’s like, ‘Great, okay, where’s the Cheerios? Well done.’
“And then you’re championing your team 10 minutes later about something that is really high value for the world. In your own world, that’s super high value. And in [Lili’s] world, that’s super high value.”
Markle has often been accused of acting and sound unrelatable. But plenty of women are likely nodding their heads to this description of how life can be.
Markle and Lemonada Media announced on March 13 that her podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder, would focus on her entrepreneurial journey launching the As ever lifestyle brand (which sold out its first batch of products last week) and feature honest conversations with fellow female founders over eight installments.
Wrote the polarizing star via Instagram at the time:
I’ve been having candid conversations with amazing women who have turned dreams into realities, and scaled small ideas into massively successful businesses. They’re opening up, sharing their tips, tricks (and tumbles), and letting me pick their brains as I build out my own business, As ever. I
t has been absolutely eye-opening, inspiring…and fun! (Because what’s the point if we can’t have some fun on this wild adventure?)