Meghan Markle Suggests She Has Been Labeled 'Crazy' in Spotify Podcast

Meghan Markle suggested she has been labeled "crazy" over her mental health as she also discussed other slurs including "hysterical," "nuts," "insane" and "completely irrational" during her Spotify podcast.

The Duchess of Sussex spoke to Constance Wu, Jenny Slate and Deepika Padukone for an episode of Archetypes that aired Tuesday, titled "The Decoding of Crazy."

Meghan said: "Raise your hand if you've ever been called 'crazy' or 'hysterical,' or what about 'nuts,' 'insane,' 'out of your mind,' 'completely irrational'? Okay, you get the point.

"Now, if we were all in the same room and could see each other, I think it would be pretty easy to see just how many of us have our hands up? By the way, me too."

She added: "I feel pretty strongly about this word, this label, 'crazy.' The way that it's thrown around so casually and the damage it's wrought on society and women, frankly everywhere.

"From relationships to families being shattered, reputations destroyed and careers ruined. The stigma surrounding the word, it also has this silencing effect. This effect where women experiencing real mental health issues, they get scared. They stay quiet, they internalize, and they repress for far too long."

Meghan did not say when in her life she was labeled in this way or who by. Previously she has discussed her struggles with her mental health during her time as a working member of the royal family.

The duchess told interviewer Oprah Winfrey in March 2021 how she asked to "go somewhere" to get help while she was feeling suicidal.

Meghan said: "I just didn't want to be alive any more. And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought. And I remember how he [Prince Harry] just cradled me. And I went to the institution, and I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help.

"I said that, 'I've never felt this way before, and I need to go somewhere'. And I was told that I couldn't, that it wouldn't be good for the institution."

During the podcast, Meghan discussed how "hysterical" was a mental health diagnosis up until the 1980s while Slate told the podcast: "It is a definition created by a man. It is a definition meant to shame and limit a certain type of experience."

Meghan added: "And that experience, let's just call it what it is: emotions. Because that's it. It's just the emotional experience of something: scared, sad, angry, stressed, jealous, surprised, worried, insecure.

"Take your pick. Calling someone crazy or hysterical, completely dismisses their experience.

"It minimizes what they're feeling and, you know, it doesn't stop there. It keeps going to the point where anyone who's been labeled it enough times can be gas-lit into thinking that they're actually unwell. Or sometimes worse. To the point where real issues of all kinds get ignored."

The duchess signed off her podcast episode saying: "Opening up about your mental health, it can be really difficult. But if you feel like you need to, we encourage you to do so."

Update 10/11/22, 7:18 AM ET: This story has been updated with additional information.