Meghan Markle Suffered This Scary Medical Condition After Childbirth

The Duchess of Sussex has come out with a new podcast called Confessions Of A Female Founder, and in it, she speaks of a terrifying diagnosis she received after giving birth. Meghan had postpartum pre-eclampsia. While pre-eclampsia during pregnancy is more common, Meghan experienced it after having the child, calling the condition “so scary” and “rare.”

On the podcast, she spoke about how difficult it was to juggle everything with new motherhood while the world is oblivious to your struggles. She added that “quietly and in the quiet,” she was still “trying to show up for people.”

Meghan said that despite all she was going through, she was still working hard to show up for her loved ones (primarily her children), but that some “huge medical scares” got in the way. While she opened up about her struggles with postpartum pre-eclampsia, she didn’t specify whether she experienced it after her son Archie was born or if it was after her younger daughter Lilibet’s birth.

What is postpartum pre-eclampsia?

This condition is connected to high blood pressure, and it can have serious repercussions. It generally occurs within a week after the baby is born, but the mother can be at risk for up to six weeks after giving birth. According to the NHS, symptoms of postpartum pre-eclampsia can include spontaneous swelling of hands, face, ankles, and feet, as well as vomiting, intense headaches, vision trouble, and pain beneath the ribs. If it’s not treated immediately, postpartum pre-eclampsia can bring serious health complications like liver and blood clotting disorders, convulsions, and even strokes.

Preeclampsia vector icons

Doctor measuring blood pressure of her pregnant patient. Preeclampsia awareness month. Vector illustration.

Meghan opens up on her podcast

Meghan’s podcast, Confessions Of A Female Founder, is her most recent project since her controversial show “With Love, Meghan” was released and since the launch of her brand As Ever. According to the Duchess, the podcast will be filled with juicy “girl talk” and use her entrepreneurial experience to advise other women on creating a billion-dollar business. Her guests include other impressive female entrepreneurs, many of whom are working mothers.

Along with opening up about postpartum pre-eclampsia, which she did in an episode with Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, who suffered from the same condition, she spoke about a topic she rarely discusses: her miscarriage.

In the second episode, while she was chatting with Reshma Saujani, the founder of Girls Who Code and the CEO of Moms First, she said, “I think in some parallel way, when you have to learn to detach from the thing that you have so much promise and hope for and to be able to be okay at a certain point to let something go, something go that you plan to love for a long time.” Meghan wrote about this experience in a 2020 essay for the New York Times.

In the episode, the women shared that while they were proud of their professional accomplishments, their favorite title is “mom.”

We can’t wait to see what other exciting guests will be featured on Confessions Of A Female Founder!