Back in February, The Duchess of Sussex Meghan Marklewon her claim against the Associated Newspapers Limited, publishers of the Mail On Sunday and MailOnline, for misuse of private information, and infringement of copyright that her privacy was breached. This followed the publishing of extracts of a letter she sent to her father Thomas Markle, after her royal wedding in 2018.
Yesterday, she spoke out about the ordeal in more depth for the first time since the appeal, at the DealBook summit by The New York Times. Speaking to Andrew Ross Sorkin, editor at large at DealBook, she seems more positive about the difficult experience she endured over the last few years.
‘In terms of the [Daily Mail lawsuit] appeal, I won the case. And this issue, frankly, has been going on since I had no children at all - and I now have two children - so it's been an arduous process. But it’s me standing up for what is right which I believe is so important. No matter how difficult it is, you know the difference between right and wrong and you must stand up for what is right.’
But the Duchess of Sussex is still hurt by the experience and says if she could give anyone any advice, it would be to not read tabloids. And, she thinks they should come with a health warning for the problems they can cause. Meghan Markle made the comment during the ‘Minding the Gap’ segment of the DealBook summit, which explored how women can reach economic and professional parity. Sorkin told Markle that he had read both ‘great things’ and ‘some crazy things’ in the tabloids about what Markle is like as a boss.
It’s likely Sorkin is referring to a now-deleted article that referred to the duchess as ‘Meghan the Menace’. She is said to have been criticised by palace employees during her time as a working royal, but the article is no longer online. Her response to Sorkin was ‘Firstly, I would urge you not to read tabloids because I don’t think that’s healthy for anyone. Hopefully, one day they come with a warning label like cigarettes do, like: ‘This is toxic for your mental health’.
And the people of Twitter seem to agree with her - the Duchess of Sussex is not the only one who felt the pain of tabloid misinformation. ‘I agree with Meghan. Hopefully one day the tabloids come with a big warning label like cigarettes (cause they are both bad for your health). Actually, I personally hope the tabloids are bankrupt & out of business one day,’ writes one user. ‘I agree with Meghan, she hit the nail on the head with the health warning,’ writes another.
However, others disagree, tweeting statements like ‘I think Meghan Markle should come with a health warning’ while others highlight the ‘rabbit hole’ adding warnings to newspapers could create. ‘We’ll end up with a health warning on everything that could possibly cause anyone offence. So, everything,’ one Twitter user said.
But some have pointed out that it might not be too much to ask, since Netflix has recently been asked to protect the royal family - whom Meghan claims have caused her distress too - by putting a similar health warning on The Crown. The culture secretary for the popular Netflix original, Oliver Dowden, asked Netflix to play a 'health warning' making it clear that The Crown is a work of fiction. Commenting on the news of the Netflix request, one Twitter user responded ‘Health warning my **s! What about the 4-year racial abuse, bias media reports of Meghan. No health warning then....’
This is not the first time that the Duchess has opened up about British tabloids and the impact they had on her mental health when they were reporting about her. Markle previously spoke about this in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in March, revealing that she had suicidal thoughts from the way she was treated.
It’s not just tabloids who’ve treated Markle unfairly, either. In what appears to be an ongoing obsession, Piers Morgan has long made unfair comments about Markle, berated her in his column, and subjected her to scrutiny from his fans, whether it’s about herrelationship with her father or the way she chooses to parent her children. And recent evidence showed there is an active targeted hate campaign against the Duchess of Sussex running on social media now.
It’s an understatement to say Meghan Markle had a difficult time with the British press, resulting in psychological challenges. So, maybe she’s not out-of-line for thinking tabloid newspapers should include a mental-health warning label.
Thankfully, when Meghan was asked how her mental health is doing now at the same summit, she replied ‘I’m feeling much better about everything now.’