Meghan Markle and Prince Harry want to make the online world a better place.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex sat down with Jane Pauley for a new interview that aired on CBS Sunday Morning on August 4. The prerecorded segment, which aired on Meghan’s 43rd birthday, discussed a new program called The Parents Network through their Archewell Foundation to support parents whose children have been impacted by traumas related to social media use. Following a two-year pilot program, the initiative is now available for parents in the U.S., U.K. and Canada.
During the interview, Pauley asked Meghan about her decision to open up about her own thoughts of self-harm. In March 2021, the Duchess of Sussex said in a sit-down with Oprah Winfrey that she “just didn’t want to be alive anymore.”
Meghan, who has previously spoken about “bullying and abuse that I was experiencing on social media and online,” told Pauley that she recognized the “through-line” between her experience and that of children affected by harmful situations they encounter on the internet.
“When you’ve been through any level of pain or trauma, I believe part of our healing journey — certainly part of mine — is being able to be really open about it,” Meghan said. “I really scraped the surface on my experience, but I do think that I would never want someone else to feel that way and I would never want someone else to be making those sort of plans and I would never want someone else to not be believed.”
The Duchess of Sussex added, “If me voicing what I have overcome will save someone or encourage someone in their life to really, genuinely check in on them and not assume that the appearance is good so everything is OK, then that’s worth it. I’ll take a hit for that.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's Archewell Foundation is launching The Parents Network to support parents of children affected by online bullying. Jane Pauley talks with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and to parents in the foundation's pilot program. https://t.co/ah9e8kMkWO pic.twitter.com/rZpmvGa7le
— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) August 4, 2024
As parents themselves, Meghan spoke about her desire to protect their two children, 5-year-old Prince Archie and 3-year-old Princess Lilibet, from harmful online content.
“Our kids are young — they’re 3 and 5. They’re amazing,” she said with a smile. “But all you want to do as parents is protect them.”
“So as we can see what’s happening in the online space, we know that there’s a lot of work to be done there, and we’re just happy to be able to be a part of change for good,” Meghan continued.
Pauley said, “You hope that when your children ask for help, someone, you know, is there to give it.”
Prince Harry, 39, chimed in, “If you know how to help.”
“At this point, we’ve got to the stage where almost every parent needs to be a first responder,” he continued. “And even the best first responders in the world wouldn’t be able to tell the signs of possible suicide. That is the terrifying piece of this.”
Meghan encouraged everyone to “look at it through the lens of ‘What if it was my daughter? What if it was my son?’ ”
“If you look at it through the lens as a parent, there’s no way to see that any other way than to try to find a solution,” she said.
The Parents Network and its “No Child Lost to Social Media” campaign ties into the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s ongoing work through their non-profit organization to provide a support network for parents dealing with grief or who have children managing mental health conditions resulting from their exposure to harmful online content.
James Holt, Executive Director of The Archewell Foundation, said in a statement, “Over the past two years, alongside our co-founders Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, our team has engaged deeply with parents and young people about the repercussions of social media on their mental, physical and emotional well-being. It became strikingly clear that there is a critical need for connection and community among those who understand the pain, fear, and isolation caused by social media’s impact on children. We believe in the transformative power of community, and that is why we have created this network — to connect those who face these challenges and offer mutual support.”
The subject was the focus of the Archewell Foundation’s first in-person event in October 2023, where the couple spoke at a panel in New York City. The event, which took place on World Mental Health Day, brought together families affected by loss connected to a child’s social media use to discuss the urgency of greater online safety.
Meghan and Harry also expressed their support following the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on online safety for children in January. In a statement published on the Archewell Foundation’s website, they said, “We applaud the bravery and determination of the thousands of parents around the country whose advocacy resulted in this hearing. Over the past few years, we have spent time with many of these families, listening to their heartache and their hopes for the urgent change that is needed in the online space. This is an issue that transcends division and party lines, as we saw today at the Senate hearing. The best parenting in the world cannot keep children safe from these platforms. As one of the fathers shared with us: ‘If love could have saved them, all of our children would still be here.’ This is not the time to pass the buck of responsibility. It’s the time to make necessary change at the source to keep our children safe.”
Meghan and Prince Harry’s recently-announced trip to Colombia will also focus on the protection of children. This November, the country will host the first World Ministerial Conference on the Elimination of Violence Against Children, and the couple will take part in several events related to the important issue during their upcoming visit.
