Breaking News:Meghan Markle discusses her suicidal thoughts as part of new campaign with Harry…See more

Meghan Markle has said she has ‘only scraped the surface’ of discussing the suicidal thoughts she had while a working member of the royal family, three years after she told Oprah Winfrey she ‘didn’t want to be alive anymore’ while living in the UK.

The Duchess of Sussex, who turns 43 today, has launched a campaign alongside her husband Prince Harry, 39, to tackle child safety online.

In an interview for American broadcaster CBS, the royals discussed the launch of the Parents Network with anchor Jane Pauley and hugged and spoke with parents who lost their children to suicide, which in many cases was linked to social media usage, with Harry and Meghan saying they want to be there so they have a place to come for help’.

Meghan first said spoke of her suicidal thoughts while being a working royal in an bombshell interview with Oprah in 2021.

She now says she hopes her candour will help others and will encourage people to check in on their friends.

I think 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,’ the duchess said while wearing £12,800 Cartier necklace and £1485 Ralph Lauren coords..

‘And I haven’t 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 sorts of plans and I would never want someone else to not be believed.

‘So, 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’s okay, then that’s worth it.

‘I’ll take a hit for that.’

The Duchess of Sussex told Oprah in 2021 she ‘couldn’t be left alone’ and told her husband she ‘didn’t want to be alive anymore’ before claiming the Buckingham Palace HR department ignored her plea for help because she wasn’t a ‘paid employee’.

‘I was really ashamed to say it at the time, and ashamed to have to admit it to Harry especially, because I know how much loss he suffered. But I knew that if I didn’t say it, that I would do it … and I just didn’t want to be alive anymore,’.

Describing how she considered ending her life believing it ‘was better for everyone’, Meghan said: ‘I knew that if I didn’t say it, that I would do it. I just didn’t want to be alive anymore. And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought. I remember how he just cradled me.

I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help. I said that ‘I’ve never felt this way before, and I need to go somewhere’. And I was told that I couldn’t, that it wouldn’t be good for the institution’.

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

She said that after confiding in her husband, she was forced to go to the Royal Albert Hall for a charity event in January 2019, claiming photos from that night ‘haunt me’.

She told Oprah she later reached out to one of the best friends of Diana, Princess of Wales, because she felt unsupported by the palace.

She said: ‘When I joined that family, that was the last time I saw my passport, my driving licence, my keys – all of that gets turned over’. Meghan said Harry had ‘saved my life’ by agreeing to move to Los Angeles.

In today’s pre-recoreded interview, Harry and Meghan also met with a group of parents who lost their children to suicide.

Host Jane Pauley said the pair were ‘no strangers’ to online bullying’, with footage showing the couple hugging bereaved parents with Meghan saying she is ‘so happy’ they came.

Harry also spoke of the ‘scariest thing’ about social media being ‘absolutely anyone’ can lose a loved one.

‘We always talk about in the olden days, if kids are under your roof, you know what they are up to. At least they’re safe.

‘But now, they could in the next room, in a tablet or phone, going down these rabbit holes, and within 24 hours they could be taking their life’.

Our kids are young, they’re three and five, they’re amazing, but all you want to do as parents is protect them,’ the Duchess said.

‘And 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.’

When the broadcaster adds ‘you hope that when your children ask for help, someone is there to give it’ the Duke adds only ‘if you know to help.’

‘At this point we’ve got to the stage where almost every parent needs to be a first responder,’ he said. ‘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.