Duchess dilemma.
Meghan Markle has revealed that becoming a mom didn’t play out exactly how she had “envisioned” it.
The Duchess of Sussex opened up about motherhood and its challenges during a conversation with Kitsch founder Cassandra Thurswell in the latest episode of her “Confessions of a Female Founder” podcast.
The “Suits” alum, who shares son Archie, 6, and daughter Lilibet, 3, with husband Prince Harry, admitted that she had previously planned to give speeches “with a baby on my hip” — but life had other plans.
Explaining that she has “always wanted” to have kids, Markle said there had been “a lot of external things happening” during both of her pregnancies that she didn’t expect.
“I will say, for myself — especially when they are baby babies and before I was [a] mom… I’ve always wanted to be a mom,” she told Thurswall on Tuesday, adding that it was important for her children to see her as a “working mom.”
“I was like ‘Oh gosh, I’m going to give a speech with a baby on my hip,’” she added. “I had a whole vision— you fast-forward, granted I had a lot of external things happening by the time I had both pregnancies and both babies.”
“But it was not the way I envisioned it,” she added.
The former actress became a mom in May 2019 when she and Harry welcomed their first child, Prince Archie.
At the time, the Sussexes had been living in England and were senior working members of the royal family.
The following year, the duo dramatically quit royal life and hightailed it across the pond.
After settling down in Montecito, Calif., the pair welcomed their second child, daughter Princess Lilibet, in June 2021.
Though she and Harry have actively tried to keep both of their children out of the spotlight, Markle has shared several photos of their kids since rejoining social media earlier this year. On Monday, she posted never-before-seen photos of the family of four to mark their seventh wedding anniversary.
Last month, Markle also opened up about parenthood during an appearance on her friend Jamie Kern Lima’s self-titled podcast.
The former royal admitted that she found being a mother “overwhelming” — so much so, that Markle and Harry had relied on the help of a nanny for five years.