Meghan Markle‘s highly-anticipated (and already highly-controversial!) podcast with Lemonada Media is finally here – and the Duchess of Sussex, 43, has already opened up to listeners about a “huge medical scare” that she experienced a few years ago!
In the first episode of Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan, the former Suits actress spoke with Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, and revealed that she suffered from postpartum preeclampsia after giving birth.
Meghan Markle Opens Up About Rare Postpartum Condition
The Duchess of Sussex – who shares five-year-old son Prince Archie and three-year-old daughter Princess Lilibet with husband Prince Harry, 40 – and the dating app founder spoke about how they both suffered from the same rare but very serious condition after giving birth.
Postpartum preeclampsia, which can occur up to six weeks after delivery, is related to high blood pressure and can lead to stroke, brain damage, seizures, and even death if left untreated.
"We both had very similar experiences, though we didn't know each other at the time, with postpartum, and we both had preeclampsia. Postpartum preeclampsia," Meghan shared with listeners, although she didn't reveal whether it happened with Prince Archie, pictured above with Prince Harry and Meghan, or Princess Lilibet.
"Can you believe we both had that? It's so rare," Herd said, to which Meghan responded: "It's so rare… and so scary."
The As Ever founder then went on to describe how difficult it was to cope with such a serious condition while also navigating the demands of new motherhood – especially while in the public eye.
"And you're still trying to juggle all of these things, and the world doesn't know what's happening, quietly," Meghan explained, adding: "And in the quiet, you're still trying to show up for people. You're still trying to show up, mostly for your children. But those things are huge medical scares."
Herd chimed in to reiterate the severity of the condition: "I mean life or death, truly."
Prince Archie's Non-Traditional Debut Is Discussed
The ladies then went on to speak about the moment Meghan and Prince Harry introduced son Prince Archie to the world, which was very different to how Prince William and Kate Middleton introduced their three children after their births. If you recall, the Prince and Princess of Wales posed for pictures with their newborns outside the Lindo Wing just hours after they were born. Prince Harry and Meghan, on the other hand, posed for pictures with their son two days later inside St. George's Hall in Windsor Castle.
"I'll never forget the image of you after you delivered Archie, and the whole world was waiting for his debut," Herd told Meghan, adding: "I was either just becoming or about to become a new mom, and I was like, 'Oh my God, how is this woman doing this? How is this woman putting on heels and going and debuting a child in this beautiful outfit in front of the entire world?' I could barely face a doorbell delivery for takeout food in a robe."
She went on: "Postpartum is wild, it's so wild. It's almost like one foot in one world and one foot in another world, and it's a very confusing place to live in."
