Meghan Markle shared some wise words she received ahead of her wedding to Prince Harry that encouraged her to remain outspoken regarding the causes she cares about most.
On the newest episode of her Archetypes podcast, the Duchess of Sussex discusses activism, specifically why women who fight for the issues they care about draw so much flak from the public, speaking with actresses Jameela Jamil, Ilana Glazer, and Shohreh Aghdashloo. At the end of those interviews, the royal concluded by sharing a piece of advice she received “just a few days” before her May 2018 wedding ceremony from “a very, very influential and inspiring woman, who for her own privacy I won’t share who it was with you.” She revealed, “She said to me, I know that your life is changing, but please don’t give up your activism. Don’t give up because it means so much to women and girls.” Meghan continued, “And I kept doing the work for women and girls because it matters, yes. But also because she encouraged me to do so. And the collective voice of all of us telling each other that matters is perhaps the point. There’s safety in numbers. But there’s also strength in numbers.”
The Duchess has long been vocal about women’s rights and empowerment. When she was just 11 years old, she called out the sexism in a Procter & Gamble ad during a segment on Nick News, telling the outlet, “I don’t think it’s right for kids to grow up thinking these things, that just mom does everything.” A few months before her nuptials, she once again spoke her mind at the first annual Royal Foundation Forum alongside Prince William and Kate Middleton. “I hear a lot of people speaking about girls’ empowerment and women’s empowerment—you will hear people saying they are helping women find their voices,” she told the audience. “I fundamentally disagree with that because women don’t need to find their voices, they need to be empowered to use it and people need to be urged to listen.” Meghan has also made supporting female-focused charitable endeavors at the center of what she and Harry do with their Archewell Foundation, announcing last month that they were teaming up with The VING Project to give $1 million in small grants to women in need and encourage teens to “become philanthropists in their own lives.”
Meghan wrote in a statement on their foundation’s website at the time, “Two things that bring me great joy are supporting women and the spirit of giving. With the return of Archetypes, Archewell Foundation and VING have come together to create the perfect combination of these loves.” She continued, “By donating $1 million in grants to women in need, our hope is not to only provide support where it may be felt deepest, but also empower young adults to embrace the gift of giving at an early age. I’m very proud of this partnership and the good we hope to see come from it.”
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