Meghan Markle Left 'In Tears' After Hearing Grieving Parents' Stories Of Children's Death

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle got candid about the challenges of raising children in the digital age while at a World Mental Health Day event in New York on Tuesday, October 10. They hosted their first-ever in-person "The Archewell Foundation Parents' Summit: Mental Wellness in a Digital Age" at Hudson Yards where the duchess shared the heartache of the parents who have lost children to the dangers of social media.

During the discussion, which was moderated by Project Healthy Minds board member Carson Daly, the mum of two revealed that she and her husband have been engaging behind the scenes with the parents and secretly working with tech companies for the past year. They have been "united in their mission to share personal experiences, data, and research to ensure the same does not happen to other families".

Opening up the summit, Prince Harry shared his gratitude to the parents who showed up at even though it is "not easy" for them to be there. He said: "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."

Meghan Markle then shared that they met "some of the families" a year ago and "at the time, it was impossible not to be in tears...hearing their stories again and again is still gonna have the same emotional impact because it's just that devastating".

She added: "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." Elsewhere in the discussion, the Duchess of Sussex called these parents "survivors".

Speaking as a father, Prince Harry also shared that as parents with children "growing up in a digital age" the priority is to "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".

A video from the summit shared on X by The Hollywood Reporter showed the couple sharing hugs with the parents after they took to the stage to share their stories. Parents Toney and Brandy Roberts were there. They lost their 14-year-old daughter Englyn to suicide in 2020 after suffering from depression. Her parents later found out through her phone that she got the idea how to hang herself from an Instagram video.

A photo shared by People also showed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex looking emotional as they listened to the parents tell their stories. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were joined by U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on stage during the discussion. Speaking on how to keep kids off social media, he shared that as a community, they need "to work together and partner with other parents".

"It's a lot easier to do if you are a part of a group of parents who say we're going to do this for our kids. Whenever one of our kids say, 'I'm the only one not on it,' we can say, No, Harry and Meghan's kids aren't on it either!'" he explained.

Prior to hosting the summit, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visited The Marcy Lab School in Brooklyn. The visit to New York comes nearly five months since they were chased by paparazzi after they attended the Women of Vision Awards on May 16.