Meghan Markle gets candid about her childhood on podcast, Archetypes: "I was alone so much as a child”

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published 4 December 2022

Meghan Markle (opens in new tab) opened up about her lonely childhood on her podcast, Archetypes, and spoke candidly about the subjects she felt excluded from studying while at school.

Meghan Markle's critically-acclaimed podcast, Archetypes, has given royal fans a glimpse into the life of the former actress as, throughout the first season's 12 episodes, she has opened up and spoken candidly about her experiences.
In this week's finale episode, Meghan made a confession about an element which she feels was missing from her childhood - and it's incredibly relatable.
In other royal news (opens in new tab), Meghan Markle reveals how Prince Harry helped shaped her podcast, Archetypes (opens in new tab)

The finale episode of Meghan Markle's Archetypes podcast was released on Tuesday and in it she made a relatable confession about her childhood. Like many girls will have experienced at school, Meghan spoke candidly about the exclusion of women in STEM subjects.

At the start of the show, she said, "I wasn't really a science kind of girl growing up, I loved cooking, gardening, writing letters, I mean not much has changed with any of that. During my childhood, STEM wasn't something I ever remember people talking about, let alone STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics).

"I love that is what kids, especially girls are encouraged to sink their teeth into today. As a kid in the 80s, that wasn't what I was exposed to."

Meghan's childhood was spent mostly with her mother, Doria Ragland, after she and Meghan's father, Thomas Markle, divorced when Meghan was just two. Meghan has previously spoken out about being a "latchkey kid," which means she would often be on her own after school and have to let herself into her house.

In a previous episode of Archetypes, Meghan revealed, "I was alone so much as a child, right, and also a latchkey kid, and I think I read a lot of Archie comic books ironically. My son is not named after Archie comic books, but I loved them. I collected them."

As a mother of two to children Archie and Lilibet, Meghan has been a staunch supporter in the fight for the rights of parents in the US. She has even previously penned a letter to the US congress in which she highlighted the importance of paid parental leave.

The former actress wrote, "In June, my husband and I welcomed our second child. Like any parents, we were overjoyed. Like many parents, we were overwhelmed. Like fewer parents, we weren't confronted with the harsh reality of either spending those first few critical months with our baby or going back to work."

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Charlie Elizabeth Culverhouse is royal news and entertainment writer for Goodto.com. She began her freelance journalism career after graduating from Nottingham Trent University with an MA in Magazine Journalism, receiving an NCTJ diploma, and earning a First Class BA (Hons) in Journalism at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute. She has also worked with BBC Good Food and The Independent.