Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Brand-New Interview Just Aired and…Oof, It’s an Emotional One

Trigger Warning: This content includes reference to suicide.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are no strangers to the dangers of online harassment, and in a heart-wrenching interview with Jane Pauley on CBS News Sunday Morning, the couple made it clear just how seriously they're taking this modern epidemic.

Called The Parents' Network, Harry and Meghan announced the official launch of the program, in association with the couple's charitable Archewell Foundation, that creates a space, in their words, "[to] act as a support network for other parents and caregivers whose children and families have been gravely impacted by social media harms."

Markle drew upon her own fraught history with suicidal ideation to help others in this next venture. As CBS News Sunday Morning reports, the duchess told Oprah Winfrey in 2021: "Look, 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."

In today's interview, Markle shared that it was this experience that connected her to the stories of families who lost a child to social media. Most families think the unthinkable is just that—unthinkable. But the charter members of The Parents' Network have learned how, with the blink of an eye, this can change. Two of those parents are the Dawleys, a couple who lost 17-year old son, C.J., from suicide after what they believe was depression fueled by social media use, "We had no idea what happened to our son," Mrs. Dawley told CBS News Sunday Morning.

"I think you have to start somewhere," Markle expressed. "I think the simplest thing that anyone watching this or anyone who's able to make change to look at it through the lens of, 'What if it was my daughter? What if it was my son? My son, or my daughter who comes home, who are joyful, who I love, and one day, right under my roof, our entire lives change because of something that was completely out of our control?' And if you look at it through the lens as a parent, there is no way to see that any other way than to try to find a solution."

The Parents' Network will meet mostly online, offering comfort for families in grief, and hopefully, with the goal (as Harry himself once said) of turning pain into purpose.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline