Over the past several months, Meghan Markle has seemingly been trying to rebrand herself with the launch of her Netflix show, lifestyle brand, and podcast. Along the way, critics have complained that the Duchess of Sussex simply isn’t “relatable.” On a recent episode of her podcast, Meghan addressed a topic that many moms can relate to: how expectations of motherhood differ from reality. However, some critics feel her comments missed the mark.
Meghan Markle said she always imagined being a mom.
On the recent episode of Meghan’s Confessions of a Female Founder podcast, she spoke to Cassandra Thurswell, who is the founder of Kitsch. Based on what Meghan told Cassandra, it sounds like she always dreamed of being a mom. However, her comments also suggested that her expectations were not especially realistic.
“I will say, for myself, especially when they are baby babies and before I was a mom, I’ve always wanted to be a mom,” the Duchess of Sussex asserted.
She also shed light on how she envisioned motherhood before she actually became a mom: “I was like, ‘Oh gosh I’m going to give a speech with a baby on my hip.’ I had a whole vision.”
But motherhood has been different from what she expected.
Of course, a lot of “external things” also interfered with Meghan’s vision. Not long after Meghan and Prince Harry welcomed their first child, Prince Archie, now 6, they ended up stepping down from royal duties and moving to the United States. Surely, the royal family drama has complicated things for Meghan — which might be at least part of the reason that motherhood has been different from what she imagined.
“Granted, I had a lot of external things happening by the time I had both pregnancies and both babies,” she said on the podcast. “But it was not the way I envisioned it.”
Critics couldn’t relate to Meghan’s expectations.
While other moms can agree that motherhood might not be exactly like what they imagined, critics couldn’t relate to Meghan’s reason for feeling this way. “Wait, what’s the big idea behind giving a speech with a baby on her hip?” one critic questioned on Reddit. “What the hell is that supposed to prove?”
Others called Meghan out for her apparent privilege. “While I appreciate the acknowledgement that working moms have a lot to juggle, the tone deafness of that coming from any celebrity in general, and this celebrity in particular, is astounding,” a second critic said.
A third wrote: “How many moms have to go back to full-time work after 6 weeks, leaving their babies in day care. How many moms struggle to feed and house their families. Yeah, markle had it tough because of choices and behaviors she decided upon.”
Once again, naysayers also accused Meghan of seeming self-involved. “Can we talk about how incredibly narcissistic her view of motherhood is?” a fourth critic wrote. “Standing up and lecturing her adoring followers, oh and holding a baby.”
It’s unclear exactly how Meghan’s vision differed from reality.
But previously, when she spoke about how her life has turned out, she suggested that things are actually better than she ever imagined. At the Time100 Summit in New York City in April, Meghan said she’s “the happiest I’ve ever been.”
When explaining why, she mentioned her husband and her kids. She’s happy “to have a partner and a husband who is just so supportive, and to have healthy kids that are so joyful in the freeness of their life and the safety of their life that we create for them.”
Then, she added, “Of all the things that have happened in my life, I never would have imagined that getting here, at this point, I feel just so happy and grateful.”
At the same time, she’s said that being a working mom is ‘overwhelming.’
On a previous episode of her podcast, Meghan made it clear that she loves being a mom, even if motherhood isn’t exactly like what she imagined. “I love being a mom so much,” she said. “It’s my favorite thing.”
But she also explained why balancing both work and motherhood can be pretty challenging. “It is the thing where you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, I just need a break. I just need a minute,’” she said. “And the second you step into the other room, you go, ‘Oh, but let me scroll through pictures of them endlessly on my phone,’ and … my husband’s like, ‘My love, can you just give yourself a minute? Why don’t you go work out? Why don’t you go take a bath?’”
Check out our Meghan Markle page for all the latest news about Meghan, Prince Harry, and their growing family.
