The Duchess of Sussex was diagnosed with post-partum pre-eclampsia after the birth of one of her children<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Black Han Sans|||on|||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ header_4_font=”|||on|||||” header_4_text_align=”center” text_orientation=”center” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]
Words by Nikki Peach<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/02\/imago305399905-2-scaled.jpg” alt=”Meghan Markle” title_text=”September 22, 2023, Santa Barbara, California, U.S: Prince Harry and Princess Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sus” force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”] To the delight of her fans and the disapproval of her critics, Meghan Markle is very much back on the scene. Following her return to social media in January, Markle\u2019s Netflix series about the art of hosting, With Love, Meghan, came out in March and has already been renewed for a second season, and this week she launched her new podcast \u2018Confessions of a Female Founder\u2019.<\/p>\n The first episode features a conversation with the founder of Bumble, Whitney Wolfe Herd, where the Duchess of Sussex revealed details about her health that she has not shared before. She explained that she was diagnosed with post-partum pre-eclampsia after the birth of one of her children. Markle and her husband Prince Harry have two children together, Archie, who turns six on 6 May, and Lilibet, three.<\/p>\n Bonding with Wolfe Herd, who has two children of her own and has suffered with the same condition, Markle described post-partum pre-eclampsia as \u2018so rare and so scary\u2019. It is characterised by high blood pressure and protein in the urine that can develop after childbirth, even if a woman didn\u2019t have pre-eclampsia during pregnancy. Symptoms can include severe headaches, vision problems, pain just below the ribs, vomiting and sudden swelling of the face, hands or feet. Although many cases are mild, it can lead to serious complications if it\u2019s not monitored and treated.<\/p>\n As someone in the public eye who has grown accustomed to intense scrutiny, Markle spoke about how difficult it was dealing with her diagnosis without anyone knowing. \u2018You\u2019re still trying to juggle all these things, and the world doesn\u2019t know what is happening, quietly, and in the quiet you are still trying to show up for people\u2019 she explained. \u2018You\u2019re still trying to show up, mostly for your children. But those things are huge medical scares.\u2019<\/p>\n Wolfe Herd agreed that it is a medical scare that is \u2018life or death, truly\u2019. She might not have known Markle at the time, even though they are now good friends, but the Bumble founder empathised with the unique pressure Markle was under as a new parent and a senior member of the royal family. \u2018I remember after you delivered Archie and the whole world was waiting for his debut,\u2019 she said. \u2018I was just becoming a new mum and I was like, \u201cOh my god, how is this woman doing this? How is this woman putting on heels and going and debuting a child in this beautiful outfit in front of the entire world?\u201d\u2019 Wolfe Herd then joked that she could \u2018barely face a doorbell delivery for takeout food\u2019 let alone the world\u2019s press.<\/p>\n It formed part of a frank and personal conversation \u2013 something we can expect more of each week as new episodes of Markle\u2019s podcast are released. Her last audio venture \u2018Archetypes\u2019, which formed part of the Sussex\u2019s $20m Spotify deal, was cancelled after its first season when the couple\u2019s deal came to an end. The series was about the labels and stereotypes that hold women back and saw Markle interview women she knows and admires. \u2018Confessions of a Female Founder\u2019, then, is a return to form, despite being produced by Lemonada Media in partnership with the couple\u2019s own Archewell Foundation. Markle clearly favours this style of structured yet informal dialogue.<\/p>\n There is no doubt this new series will offer her another opportunity to share her point of view \u2013 in her own words \u2013 even if she has little control over how those words are perceived.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”custom-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_font=”Libre Bodoni|||on|||||” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#333333″ header_2_font_size=”40px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” global_colors_info=”{}”] \u2018As Meghan, Duchess of Sussex builds out a business of her own, she\u2019s getting advice and insights from a handful of amazing women who have scaled small ideas into successful companies,\u2019 the podcast\u2019s blurb reads. \u2018These fly-on-the-wall conversations will no doubt inspire anyone who\u2019s interested in turning their own entrepreneurial dreams into a reality and anyone else who just wants to hear what really happens behind the scenes.\u2019<\/p>\n However, as the first episode indicates, the podcast ventures beyond the realms of business advice and tackles the personal too. \u00a0\u2018I hope \u2018Confessions of a Female Founder\u2019 reminds listeners they\u2019re not alone,\u2019 Markle told\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>. \u2018These are honest conversations with women who\u2019ve built from the ground up, faced challenges and kept going.\u2019<\/p>\n Elsewhere in episode one, the two women discussed how their perspectives have shifted since having children. \u2018I think being a mother, as you know, nothing comes before that,\u2019 Wolfe Herd explained. \u2018Their wellbeing is our wellbeing, and so I think it forces you to prioritise in ways that, for me, I never did before.\u2019<\/p>\n Markle chimed in on the parenthood juggle, revealing that her daughter Lilibet knows where to find her even when her office door is closed. \u2018She will be sitting there on my lap during one of these meetings with a grid of all the executives,\u2019 the Duchess told her guest. \u2018But also I wouldn\u2019t have it any other way. I don\u2019t want to miss those moments. I don\u2019t want to miss pickup if I don\u2019t have to. I don\u2019t want to miss drop-off. I think what I do love the most about having young kids in this chapter while I\u2019m building is the perspective that it brings.\u2019<\/p>\n Episode one has certainly set the tone for what\u2019s to come \u2013 we are likely to be offered careful but considered insights into Markle\u2019s world. It is currently unclear which other founders she has lined up for the rest of the series but given her burgeoning friendship with her neighbour and Goop founder, Gwyneth Paltrow, she may well have an A-list guest lined up for season two already. As with everything Markle does, whoever the guest and whatever the subject, the series will give people something to talk about.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#111111″ divider_position=”center” divider_weight=”2px” module_class=”custom-divider” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”0px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-texts” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|||on|||||” text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”] Photo: <\/b>IMAGO<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Duchess of Sussex has launched hew new podcast series where she speaks to female founders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":7254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"guestgrazia","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8471"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8484,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8471\/revisions\/8484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}‘You\u2019re trying to juggle all these things, and the world doesn\u2019t know what is happening’<\/h2>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]