A psychologist describes the Duchess of Sussex’s efforts to “rewrite memories,” but without going into details as Meghan Markle has begun to reveal more about her two pregnancies.
Experts have revealed how Meghan Markle may be failing to recognise her struggles as a mother and presenting an ‘overly polished’ image, after the duchess gave an intimate insight into her pregnancies with her children Archie and Lilibet last week.
Explaining that she gained just over 4½st during each pregnancy, she said, “I always wear my five-inch, pointy-toed stilettos. You have the most enormous bump and your tiny little ankles are bracing themselves in these high heels… So you’re just going, how on earth am I not just tipping, you know, face-planting? I was clinging very closely to my husband, like, ‘Please don’t let me fall.’”
Meghan, 43, also shared some of her humorous memories, including how sometimes motherhood leaves her. “People forget that Archie and Lili are both three,” they say. If you take a look at the past five, six years of my life, it’s “yes,” having been pregnant, having a newborn, having a toddler, and then having yet another one.
According to psychologist Stefan Walters, Meghan’s more frequent disclosures on the podcast Confessions of a Female Founder could indicate her mood.
“Women often romanticise and enjoy that stage of pregnancy and having a newborn baby, and want to really share that with the world at large because it can be such a unique and beautiful time,” he tells Mirror.
Stefan also adds that Meghan now has much-needed access to a podcast so she can process some of the agonizing events she and her husband, both during and after her first pregnancy.
During one shocking interview at the end of the Sussexes’ official tour to South Africa shortly after Archie’s birth, Meghan seemed to be struggling under the weight of the spotlight amid the growing tensions with their extended royal family.
Meghan responded, “Any woman, especially when you’re pregnant, you’re really vulnerable, so that was really challenging,” when a reporter inquired about hercoping. So it’s a lot when you have a baby, especially if you’re a woman.
Some of these memories might be being rewritten by Meghan’s recent personal revelations, Stefan claims. He explains that there is a risk of getting a second chance here. She said, “Pregnancy was a difficult, agonizing time for them, and she occasionally appeared to be struggling. Not all of its positive memories were related to it.
So she may now feel inspired to make and relive happy memories from her first child’s life during pregnancy and the first few years of their lives.
Meghan recently admitted that despite always wanting to be a mother, things didn’t go as she had anticipated or hoped during her recent conversation about those hazy early months of becoming a mother.
“I was like ‘Oh gosh, I’m going to give a speech with a baby on my hip,’” she revealed on her podcast. “I had a whole vision – and then you fast forward… granted, I had a lot of external things happening by the time I had both pregnancies and both babies. But it was not the way I envisioned it.”
Today, her glossy Instagram feed is packed with personal posts featuring Harry, 40, and, increasingly, their children, including a sweet recent clip of her and Lilibet, who turns four this week, beekeeping in matching bee suits, and her wedding anniversary montage.
The latter featured a baby scan showing Archie turning six in May as well as a photo of Harry holding one of the young children as a newborn.
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It’s in stark contrast to the protocol that governs most working royals, when family photos are generally only released on occasions like birthdays or at Christmas. Indeed, Stefan believes Meghan appears to be embracing the freedom of no longer being bound by strict royal rules.
She was publicly ridiculed, and there was a lot of scorn directed at them when they and Harry left the UK, so I believe she is partly creating a platform for herself. She now has a name and, more importantly, a voice as she continues to make her podcast.
She probably believes that she was previously prohibited from speaking up authentically because it violated royal protocol and royal brand. She is only being honest and forthright, so she’s making an authentic voice.
According to brand guru Lynn Carratt, the couple, and Meghan in particular, are treading a fine line between revealing their positive traits and coming off as “overly polished” in public.
Some of the stories still feel unattainable for many people, she says, “While recent glimpses into her life suggest a softer side.” However, Lynn notes that it’s a definite “positive shift” for the pair to focus more on their four-year relationship in California rather than on wider royal family gatherings.
She adds, “I believe their future PR strategy should aim to give off a more positive but perhaps more grounded and relatable” impression.
