Prince Harry On Ignoring The Severity Of Meghan Markle’s Depression: “I Hate Myself For It”

Meghan Markle is opening up more about her mental health struggles following her wedding to Prince Harry in volume two of the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan.

The Duchess of Sussex first revealed she had self-harm and suicidal thoughts during her sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021. Things started to become dark, Meghan noted per Page Six, after their globally televised wedding in May 2018.

“It was like, all of this will stop if I’m not here,” she says in the docuseries, referring to the negative press surrounding she and Harry, especially her, following their nuptials, “and that was the scariest thing about it because it was such clear thinking.”

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Reiterating what she previously shared with Winfrey, Meghan notes the most frustrating part was being declined professional help by the institution. She and her feelings were completely dismissed to which Harry acknowledges he “hates” himself for.

“I was devastated,” he admits in Harry & Meghan. “I knew she was struggling. We were both struggling, but I never thought it would get to that stage and the fact that it got to that stage, I felt angry and ashamed.”

The Duke of Sussex says he handled Meghan’s depression “as ‘Institutional Harry’ as opposed to ‘Husband Harry,’” adding that his royal obligations got the best of his emotions.

“I had been trained to worry more about, ‘What are people going to think if we don’t go to this event? We’re going to be late,’” he explains.

Harry further described things from the institution’s perspective: “They thought, ‘Why couldn’t she just deal with it?’ As if to say, ‘Well everyone else has dealt with it, why can’t she deal with it?’”

“But it was different. This was different,” he states.

It took their bombshell exit from royal life for Harry to realize the weight the institution’s grasp had on them. “And looking back on it now, I hate myself for it. What she needed from me was so much more than I was able to give,” he says.

Also appearing several times throughout the docuseries is Meghan’s mom, Doria Ragland, who recalls being unable to “protect [Meghan]” from her suicidal thoughts.

“I remember her telling me that, that she had wanted to take her own life,” Ragland says in Harry & Meghan. “That really broke my heart.”

“I knew, well, I knew that it was bad, to just constantly be picked at by these vultures, just picking away at her spirit that she would actually think of not wanting to be here,” she says.

Ragland added the state of Meghan’s mental health tore her apart as much as it did Harry. “That’s not an easy one for a mom to hear. And I can’t protect her. He can’t protect her,” she says tearfully.

In addition to Meghan’s mental health and the couple’s wedding, volume two of the docuseries depicts their shocking move across the pond and Harry’s falling out with King Charles III and Prince William.

Harry & Meghan is now available to stream in its entirety on Netflix.

If you or someone you know is in crisis or contemplating suicide, help is available by texting 988 or 988lifeline.org.