Meghan Markle says she doesn’t need people to love her. She just wants them to be able to hear her.
The Duchess of Sussex, according to a journalist who interviewed her for the Telegraph, has come to terms with the intense, often unfair media scrutiny she receives as a member of the royal family.
Markle has continued to make public appearances, including one at a bakery in London that provides training and employment opportunities for vulnerable women.
“I find that when you strip all the layers away, as people, and especially as women, we can find deep connection with each other, and a shared understanding,” she told the Telegraph.
The Duchess was also recently the subject of a viral clip from ITV’s “Harry & Meghan: An African Journey,” where she looked teary-eyed and thanked the interviewer for asking if she was OK.
At the bakery, Markle said “One of the things I have realised since being here [in the UK] is that people have an expectation when I’m coming somewhere, so I’m like, let’s just be really relaxed, keep everyone nice and chilled, because at the end of the day we’re all just women.”
Markle also said she encouraged Prince Harry to open up about mental health, one of the many progressive causes the two have embraced using their royal platform. At the time she spoke with The Telegraph, Markle said Harry had flown to Japan for his role as patron to the Rugby Football Union. The Duchess was staying at home in England with 5-month-old baby Archie.
The Telegraph noted that it didn’t seem like the royal pair was in a position to move to the US, despite the rumors circulating that they are so fed up with the pressures of the UK media that they might leave the country.
It’s not an entirely unfounded rumor: Markle has opened a lawsuit against the British tabloid the Mail, which published a private letter she wrote to her father. Her legal team said the letter’s publication was part of a campaign “to publish false and deliberately derogatory stories about her.”
Prince Harry also released a statement noting that the UK tabloids have vilified Markle and said that the letter published by the Mail was edited to obscure its meaning and further supplement an unfair narrative.
But Markle has returned to fighting for causes that are important to her. The bakery in question, Luminary Bakery, was featured in the issue of Vogue that she guest-edited.
“Our lives may be different, our backgrounds, our experiences, all varied,” she told the Telegraph. “I find that in these moments of connection it becomes abundantly clear that our hopes, our fears, our insecurities, the things that make us tick… well, those are very much the same. And there’s comfort in that.”
This content was originally published here.