The Duchess of Sussex welcomed guests Constance Wu, Jenny Slate and Deepika Padukone to discuss “The Decoding of Crazy
Meghan Markle is tackling tough but important topics in the latest episode of her Archetypes podcast.
The Duchess of Sussex’s latest episode dropped on Tuesday, welcoming guests actress Constance Wu, comedian and writer Jenny Slate and activist and Bollywood star Deepika Padukone titled “The Decoding of Crazy.”
During her talk with Deepika, Meghan described how husband Prince Harry found her a referral to a mental health professional when she was at her “worst point.”
“I mean, I think at my worst point, being finally connected to someone that, you know, my husband had found a referral for me to call. And I called this woman,” Meghan, 41, said. “She didn’t know I was even calling her. And she was checking out at the grocery store. I could hear the little beep, beep, and I was like, “Hi,” and I’m introducing myself and that you can literally you’re going, wait, sorry. I’m just. Who is this? Um, and saying I need help. And she could hear the dire state that I was in.”
Meghan continued, “But I think it’s for all of us to be really honest about what it is that you need and to not be afraid to make peace with that, to ask for it.”
Meghan previously opened up about her mental health struggles during her interview with Oprah Winfrey, which aired in March 2021.
“I was ashamed to say it at the time and ashamed to have to admit it to Harry. But I knew that if I didn’t say it — then I would do it,” she said at the time. “I just didn’t want to be alive anymore.”
Meghan continued, “That was clear and real and frightening and constant thought.”
The Duchess of Sussex recalled a January 2019 outing to see a performance at Royal Albert Hall after she had opened up to Prince Harry about her thoughts.
She told Oprah, “I remember him saying, ‘I don’t think you can go,’ and I said, ‘I can’t be left alone.’ ”
Meghan, who was pregnant with son Archie Harrison during the event, said she can see in photos from the night that Harry is tightly holding her hand despite their smiles.
“We’re both just trying to hold on,” she said.
Meghan also said that every time the theater’s lights went down, she was “weeping.”
“And that’s I think so important for people to remember is you have no idea what’s going on for someone behind closed doors. No idea,” she said. “Even the people that smile and shine the brightest lights. You need to have compassion for what it actually potentially going on.”
In the episode’s intro, Meghan said, “I feel pretty strongly about this word… this label: “crazy”… the way that it’s thrown around so casually and the damage it’s wrought on society and women everywhere — from relationships to families being shattered, reputations destroyed and careers ruined. The stigma surrounding the word, it also has this silencing effect — this effect where women experiencing real mental health issues, they get scared, they stay quiet, they internalize and repress for far too long.”
Deepika talked about her mental health struggles, which began in 2014 “out of the blue.”
“I woke up one morning and everything was going well. My films were a success. Personally, beautiful relationships, supportive family. Like it just sort of came out of the blue. I woke up, I fell. I — you know, my blood pressure dropped. And then the next thing I know. My life just felt meaningless,” Deepika said. “I didn’t want to live anymore you know, I just. I didn’t want to get out of bed. And I struggled with this for, for many, many months. I would just break down at the drop of a hat. Not be present. Like I’d be talking to someone or be, you know, be at an event or be engaging with someone, but, like, my mind’s somewhere else. And I’d, I’d never felt like that before. So just, all of it just felt like, so disorienting. And my parents were visiting me and the day they were ready to leave, I was sitting and watching them pack and I started crying again. And my mom was like, ‘What’s wrong? Is it your relationship? Has someone said something to you?’ I said, ‘I don’t know. I’ve been feeling like this for many, many months. I just keep crying. I don’t know why.’ It’s feeling of hopelessness. You just feel hopeless. You feel like there’s no point in living.”
Deepika went on to share her story with the world by going live on TV in India, and she was met with praise for her honesty and bravery.
“I mean, there’s two parts to this,” she said. “One is: I think where people struggle the most, especially in India, where there’s so much stigma attached to mental illness. One is creating the awareness. Most of us don’t even know that we’re struggling with mental illness. And second, if we are, to destigmatize it, to let people know that it’s okay to seek help and to let caregivers know that it’s okay for someone to go through this. It’s the same way we have physical ailments. Our mind is very much a part of our body. But somehow, when it comes to mental illness, we start treating our minds like outside of our bodies.”
Meghan replied, “You’re right. You know, my husband works a lot in, with the military community as a veteran and invisible injuries — they call them that all the time. Right. If you suffer from post-traumatic stress, it’s the thing that you can’t see. And if you can’t see it, it is just either ignored or brushed under the carpet.”
Constance, who has previously opened up about her suicide attempt in 2019 after posting a negative tweet about the renewal of her sitcom Fresh Off The Boat, also spoke with Meghan about the situation, revealing she appeared to be “really ungrateful and petty and bratty” for not being happy about the show’s renewal. (Behind the scenes, she says she was the victim of sexual harassment by a producer.)
“It took, like, a DM from an actress colleague of mine, an Asian actress, who basically said that I had become a disgrace to my race and that — you know, I was basically better off dead. It made me feel like I didn’t deserve to be alive anymore,” the actress said.
Constance, who is a mother to a 2-year-old daughter, cried while discussing the topic.
“If you weren’t crying, I’d be worried,” the Duchess of Sussex told her. “Right? Because so much of it is, especially based on what you’re talking about, which is when everything’s just building up, building up internalized emotion, whether it’s sadness or relief or everything. I mean how — just like when you’re talking about with your daughter, when you watch our kids, the most beautiful thing in the world, even though in the moment it might not feel that way, is if they have a breakdown and they just scream and they let it all out. They let it all out and guess what happens?”
“And then a second later, they’re like…” Constance replied.
“They’re fine,” Meghan said. “Because they let it out.”
After a hiatus in releasing new episodes of Archetypes following the death of Queen Elizabeth on Sept. 8, Spotify resumed the podcast last week, when Margaret Cho and Lisa Ling joined Meghan to break down the trope of the “Dragon Lady.”
Three episodes of Archetypes were released before the monarch’s death, with Meghan welcoming guests Serena Williams, Mariah Carey and Mindy Kaling to debunk stereotypes about women.
[VIA]
