Meghan Markle sought ‘support and strength’ from her husband Prince Harry as she discussed her experiences of suicidal ideas, according to body language expert Judi James.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex today launched the campaign aimed at tackling child safety online, with the Duchess revealing she ‘only scratched the surface’ of speaking about her mental health in her now infamous interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021.
Speaking to CBS’s Jane Pauley today, the Duke and Duchess spoke about suicide as they announced The Parents’ Network alongside mothers and fathers who have lose their children to suicide due to a lack of safeguarding online.
As Meghan said that she hoped discussing her own mental health in 2021 will help others suffering with suicidal thoughts, she put her hand on Harry’s knee.
Speaking to FEMAIL, body language expert Judi James explained: ‘This gesture could serve more than one purpose. It looks like a seeking for support and strength from Harry as she shares her own experience of ‘suicidal ideas’.
Meghan put her hand on Harry’s leg as Jane Pauley asked about her experience of suicidal thoughts
‘But there is a wariness about Harry’s head tilt and the way he watches his wife’s face that could mean she [touched him] as a reassuring tie-sign to let him know she’s okay discussing her “healing journey”.’
Judi also noted that when the couple meet the bereaved parents they offer ‘deeply warm greeting hugs that we normally see shared between close family members’.
‘There is rocking together, which registers delight at seeing someone after time spent apart and we can also see back-rubs and touches that make [Meghan’s] hugs consoling and supportive to the parents in their grief.’
‘Meghan walks in to meet the bereaved parents first while Harry is a pace behind here and we can see their ongoing penchant for the kind of deeply warm greeting hugs that we normally see shared between close family members.
‘Meghan’s “announcement gestures” to show the recipient what hug is coming are comprehensive and clear. Her vocal tone rises high as she throws both arms upward and outward before clamping torso against torso and encircling with both arms as she rests her chin onto shoulders.
‘There is rocking together, which registers delight at seeing someone after time spent apart and we can also see back-rubs and touches that make her hugs consoling and supportive to the parents in their grief.
Harry and Meghan were shown embracing parents from The Parents’ Network as they met in person for its launch
She added that Harry acts more ‘macho’ and ‘overly tactile’.
‘Harry’s announcement ritual is a macho hand-slap that converts into similarly fulsome hugs although he is distinctly more politely rigid and cautious as he bends to hug their interviewer Jane Pauley.
‘Harry and Meghan themselves are less tactile than usual but overly tactile behaviour between a couple can create an air or exclusivity, while it’s clear from this film that strong emotions of tragedy, suffering or pain are being shared equally.
‘When the couple sit together for the interview there is a larger spatial gap between them than usual and Meghan is elegantly regal, with her legs crossed and slanted, while Harry’ knees are splayed so that it’s only their knees that appear to touch.
‘Harry tends to stare away with a blank or pensive expression while Meghan is talking and while her non-verbal signals suggest empathy, charm and warmer emotions as she smiles coyly when speaking about her children, gazing down with a vocal ‘creaking’ tone to suggest how besotted she is, Harry is more verbally ‘disruptive’ here, interrupting and changing to a faster, more professional pace as he speaks in the emphatic manner of an expert, using illustrative hand gestures on almost every word, even miming a steeple shape when he talks about ‘under your own roof’.
‘Their key tactile moment is made more dramatic by this previous ‘hands-off’ behaviour. When the interview focuses on Meghan’s own ‘suffering’ we see her right arm extend as her hand is placed on Harry’s leg.
The video also featured a clip of Meghan hugging bereaved parents
Meghan first said spoke of her suicidal thoughts while being a working royal in an bombshell interview with Oprah in 2021
‘This gesture could serve more than one purpose. It looks like a seeking for support and strength from Harry as she shares her own experience of ‘suicidal ideas’ but there is a wariness about Harry’s head tilt and the way he watches his wife’s face that could mean she uses the touch as a reassuring tie-sign to let him know she’s ok here discussing her ‘healing journey’, despite telling Pauley that ‘I wasn’t expecting it’ but that she would ‘take the hit’ to help others.
The campaign, which carries the slogan #NoChildLostToSocialMedia, includes a video that has been posted on the Foundation’s website and features parents who have lost their children to suicide because of online harm.
Meghan also discussed their own experience with their children, Archie and Lilbet.
‘Our kids are young, they’re three and five, they’re amazing, but all you want to do as parents is protect them,’ the Duchess said.
‘And so as we can see what’s happening in the online space, we know that there’s a lot of work to be done there and we’re just happy to be able to be a part of change for good.’
When the broadcaster adds ‘you hope that when your children ask for help, someone is there to give it’ the Duke adds only ‘if you know to help.’
‘At this point we’ve got to the stage where almost every parent needs to be a first responder,’ he said. ‘And even the best first responders in the world wouldn’t be able to tell the signs of possible suicide. That is the terrifying piece of this.’
Responding to host Jane Pauley saying it was a ‘modest beginning, Meghan added: ‘You have to start somewhere. Anyone watching this or anyone able to make change needs to look through the lens of ‘what if this was my son or daughter?’.
‘Your son or daughter who comes home who are joyful, who I love, and one day, right under my roof, our entire lives change because of something that’s completely out of my control. And if you look at is as a parent, there is no way to see it any other way than to try and find a solution’.
For confidential support in the UK, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit www.samaritans.org for details; In the US call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255).
