Here are more photos from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s second event on Tuesday, the Archewell and Project Healthy Minds’ Inaugural World Mental Health Day Festival. Earlier in the day, they visited the Marcy Lab School in Brooklyn, then this, the festival and panel discussion moderated by Carson Daly. H&M were joined by Dr. Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general. It got emotional very quickly, especially because Archewell invited parents whose children were mercilessly bullied online, sometimes bullied to the point of suicide.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped out in N.Y.C. on Tuesday, Oct. 10 for their Archewell Foundation’s first in-person event, providing a platform for parents navigating mental health challenges in today’s digital age. The summit featured parents who have experienced tragic loss connected to their child’s social media use. Meghan and Harry have been working with the parents involved in the event behind the scenes, PEOPLE has learned.
“I can’t start without thanking all the parents, the mothers and fathers for being with us physically today, but also being on this journey with us for the last year, creating this community of shared experience,” Harry said after taking the stage with Meghan for the panel. “We know it’s not easy for you guys to be here so thank you very much,” he continued.
Meghan then said: “A year ago we met some of the families, and at the time, it was impossible not to be in tears hearing their stories because it’s just that devastating. As parents, though our kids are really young, 2 1/2 and 4 1/2, but social media isn’t going away and by design, there was an entry post that was supposed to be positive and create community but something has devolved and there’s no way to hear that and not try to help these families have their stories be heard.”
Speaking as a father, Harry added: “I think for us, for myself and my wife, with kids growing up in a digital age, the priority here is to again turn pain into purpose and provide as much support as well as a spotlight and a platform for these parents to come together, to heal, to grieve and to also collectively focus on solutions so that no other family anywhere has to go through what they’ve been through.”
At the end of the panel, Daly turned to Meghan and asked: “As a mom of two young kids, after the stories that we heard today from these families that you’ve gotten to know over the past year and the work that Archewell is doing in this space, where is this on the priority list, not as a kick-ass woman, but as a mom? Excuse my French!”
Meghan replied: “Being a mom is the most important thing in my entire life — outside, of course, being a wife to this one,” she said, gesturing to Harry. “But I will say I feel fortunate that our children are at an age, again quite young, so this isn’t in our immediate future, but I also feel frightened at how it’s continuing to change and this will be in front of us.”
“They say being a parent, the days are long but the years are short, so it worries me, but I’m also given a lot of hope and energy by the progress we’ve made in the past year being able to have these incredible parents, these survivors of these experiences, share their stories and the more information gathering we’re able to do, the more we can move the needle a little bit,” she continued. “Everyone is affected by the online world and social media. we all just want to feel safe. I’m confident that with more ears and awareness and visibility of what is really happening, we can make some significant change together.”
It was a really substantive conversation, focusing mostly on parents and how difficult it is to really understand how rapidly everything has changed for kids because of social media and online culture. Meghan, Harry and the surgeon general were all quite emotional about it.
It’s amazing that Access Hollywood (of all outlets) put the longest video on YouTube. I also saw that Sky News (a UK outlet) did a damn live-stream of the Sussexes’ event.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
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