I honestly never had a Me Too moment on the subject of sexual abuse, but now I'm having one regarding suicide.
I like watching The Crown as much as the next person, but I haven't followed the Royal Family closely, and even with all the build-up, I didn't watch Oprah's recent interview with Meghan and Harry.
But when reviews quoted Meghan as saying she'd felt she just didn't want to be alive anymore, I sat up straight. Her words had the ring of truth. In fact, they were the same ones I said to my husband more times than I care to remember: I just don't want to be alive anymore. Thing is, I've been in that darkest of places and I know. You're not trying to threaten or frighten people, you're not saying, If you don't do such and such I'm just gonna kill myself! No, you're only trying to say, Hey, this is the only way I know to express how bad I feel. And if you feel this way, you're supposed to tell somebody, right? You're supposed to give people a chance to help?
But what if you try to put it into words, your despair, and people want to imply that you're a drama queen? Piers Morgan obviously does not have a clue how truly horrendous it is to feel you literally don't want to be alive. Great Rx: a public mocking.
I'm not revealing any big secret here, the fact that I've suffered bouts of suicidal depression; I wrote all about it in Accidental Addict. I know all about being in that dark place, and whatever combination of circumstances and chemical imbalances puts a person in that pit, what she needs to climb out is loving support, not to be ignored or shunned. Not to be made to feel she is being difficult.
Meghan is fortunate to have in Harry a husband with the courage to do the right thing and get her the hell out of England. To break away from what was supposed to be his own support system must have required extraordinary courage. I hope their speaking up will help others suffering in this way, and I wish for them a real life happy ending that a fairytale princess story obviously does not provide.