Meghan Markle got candid about “juggling it all” while her kids, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, were sick with two separate illnesses during the recording of her second podcast episode.
“My kids, for example, right now, one has RSV, the other has influenza A,” the Duchess of Sussex, 43, told her guest, Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani, during the Tuesday, April 15, episode of her “Confessions of a Female Founder” podcast. “I hear a little pitter-patter of feet upstairs. They’re home from school.”
Meghan continued, “You know, cough syrup all night and rubbing the back.”
The mom of two, who had been discussing work-life balance as a mom with Reshma, 49, told her guest that she had an appreciation for women who “find a way to show up for both.”
“But being able to be comfortable enough,” Meghan continued. “How we teach this generation, who might not feel as inspired to do some of the change-making that we know has been so fundamental, is saying, ‘No, just be honest in the journey of it,’ and say, ‘Yeah, today I’m going to show up for you, but I’m showing up for you in my sweatshirt today because I’ve been up all night with my babies, but I’m still going to be able to show up for both because both matter and both are what keep my cup full.’”
After Meghan and Reshma both agreed that their favorite title is “mom,” the duchess admitted that she sometimes struggles to give herself personal time away from her children.
“Let me just scroll through pictures of them endlessly on my phone,” she explained. “Then my husband [Prince Harry] is like, ‘My love, can you just give yourself a minute? Why don’t you go work out? Why don’t you go take a bath?’”
Meghan continued, “I’m like, I know, but I just want to cuddle.’ It’s the parenting paradigm, where it is so full on, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. But I think … the pandemic may have been the thing that shifted this, when working from home and parenting from home, where they are completely converged. [It] can feel incredibly overwhelming.”
Meghan and Harry, 40, welcomed son Archie, 5, in London in May 2019. The couple then moved to California in 2020, where they welcomed daughter Lilibet, 3, in 2021. While the former working royals mostly keep their children out of the spotlight, Archie and Lilibet have made a few rare appearances online, especially since Meghan launched her Instagram account in January.
Meghan’s chat about work-life balance and motherhood comes days after a source exclusively told In Touch that she and Harry are eager to have “lazy summer days” with their kids.
“They are taking some solid time off this summer. They want to enjoy lazy summer days at home in Montecito, taking the kids to the beach and having friends over for pool parties and al fresco dinners,” the insider said on April 11. “There’s some talk that they’ll meet up with friends on the East Coast for a group trip with all the kids. Since they don’t do big group trips with their family like a lot of people do, they try to recreate a similar vibe with their core group of friends.”
Noting that the couple hopes to visit Portugal so that Archie and Lilibet can “spend time with [Princess] Eugenie and Jack [Brooksbanks]’s kids,” the source concluded, “They want to make special memories with their kids.”
