Meghan Markle Teams Up with Katie Couric and Brooke Shields on International Women's Day Panel at SXSW

Mar. 15, 2025

Meghan Markle at SXSW on March 8, 2024.Photo:SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty

SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty

Meghan Markleis celebrating International Women’s Day beside some famous faces.

Prince Harry, 39, proudly supported his wife from the crowd, sitting front and center for the panel.

Markus Anderson, a close friend of the couple, was also in the audience seated next to Prince Harry.

During the discussion, Meghan shared the story about how sheadvocated for Procter & Gamble to change a dishwashing soap commercialthat advertised its product only to women when she was only 11. Shields chimed in, “When I was 11, I was playing a prostitute. I wish I had known you.”

“A little different,” Meghan replied with a laugh.

Speaking about social media, the Duchess of Sussex shared that she does “keep her distance from it right now for my own well-being.”

“The bulk of the bullying and the abuse that I was experiencing in social media and online was when I was pregnant, withArchieand withLili, and with a newborn with each of them,” she said, wondering “why people would be so hateful” during a “tender and sacred time.”

“It’s not catty, it’s cruel,” she said.

Meghan previously opened up abouthaving thoughts of suicide. “I was ashamed to say it at the time and ashamed to have to admit it to Harry. But I knew that if I didn’t say it — then I would do it,” she said in an interview withOprah Winfreythat aired in March 2021. “I just didn’t want to be alive anymore.”

Meghan also pointed out during the SXSW panel that it’s often women speaking poorly about other women online. “I can not make sense of that,” she said.

Meghan Markle at the SXSW panel on March 8, 2024.SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty

“As moms, and as I was saying earlier when you’re a new mom, it’s a really vulnerable time,” Meghan said. “The effect that social media can have on new mothers, even just the lack of sleep because they spend all this time scrolling, but it can also be really dizzying for them to see this portrayal of motherhood that looks so perfect when we all know it’s not perfect. We all know that it’s messy.”

“I’m fortunate in that, among the privileges I have in my life, I have an incredible partner,” Meghan continued, gesturing toward Prince Harry in the audience. “My husband is such a hands-on dad and such a supporter of me and my family. That I don’t take for granted. That is a real blessing. But a lot of people don’t have that same level of support. So I think for us, it’s about putting safeguards in so women and moms especially can not feel like they’re even more vulnerable when they go online.”

Prince Harry supports wife Meghan Markle at SXSW panel on March 8, 2024.SUZANNE CORDEIRO / AFP

SUZANNE CORDEIRO / AFP

“Happy International Women’s Day to all of you! Whether donating your time, funds or helping a woman in your community, let’s all celebrate the women in our lives today and every day!” said a message on the Archewell Foundationwebsite.

Errin Haines, Meghan Markle, Katie Couric, Brooke Shields and Nancy Wang Yuen at SXSW on March 8, 2024.Mat Hayward/FilmMagic

Mat Hayward/FilmMagic

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“My past experience as an actress, and now today as a producer and mother, have amplified my belief in the critical importance of supporting women and moms both behind the lens and in front of it,” Meghan said in a statement, according toVanity Fair,which was first to report the news. “This report about the portrayal of mothers in entertainment highlights the gaps we need to fill to achieve true representation in the content we create and consume, and I’m honored to support this work through the Archewell Foundation.”

Meghan Markle at SXSW in Austin on March 8, 2024.SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty

source: people.com