“Yes,” Meghan said, “this was very, very clear.”
Later, we learned just how clear it was. She recalled what she told her husband: “It was like, these are the thoughts that I’m having in the middle of the night that are very clear, and I’m scared, because this is very real. This isn’t some abstract idea. This is methodical, and this is not who I am.”
Meghan said she asked a senior member of the royal family about the possibility of being hospitalized for her mental health problems but said that this person refused in order to protect the family’s image. She said she was too scared to be left alone, worried that she might end her life. So she confided in Prince Harry, who supported her emotionally but didn’t share the extent of her troubles with his family.
“I guess I was ashamed of admitting it to them, and I don’t know whether they’ve had the same feelings or thoughts,” he told Ms. Winfrey. “I have no idea. It’s a very trapping environment that a lot of them are stuck in.”
This is why Meghan’s disclosure is a gift to so many strangers. You don’t have to be royalty to be trapped into silence. According to one 2015 study, almost 10 million American adults had seriously considered suicide during the previous year; a 2019 survey found that almost one in five high school students had such thoughts. Despite the relatively high prevalence of suicidal thoughts, fewer than half of people experiencing them tell a friend or family member. Among…
