A video of Meghan Markle revealing she dreamed of growing up in a nuclear family with a "happy dad and his loving wife" as her parents were separating went viral on TikTok.
The Duchess of Sussex wrote a poem aged 12 about how she experienced her parents' divorce and read it out during her Netflix show. A clip of the heartbreaking moment resurfaced on TikTok where it was liked over 1.2 million times and viewed more than 6.9 million times after being posted with the caption: "Meghan's poem."
During the original episode of Harry & Meghan, which dropped in December 2022, she said: "Even though my parents co-parented well, you think about how that informs what you grow up to be and what you want.
"It's so funny, when I was 12, I was at Immaculate Heart [high school], and one of the assignments was to write a poem about your life. And I remember this poem to this day."
Meghan read the poem out loud: "Two houses, two homes, two kitchens, two phones, two couches where I lay, two places that I stay. Moving, moving here and there, from Monday to Friday I'm everywhere.
"Don't get me wrong, it's not that bad, but often times it makes me sad. I want to live that nuclear life, with a happy dad and his loving wife," the duchess said.
"A picket fence, a shaggy dog, a fireplace with a burning log, but it's not real, it's just a dream, I cannot cry or even scream. So here I sit with cat number three, Life would be easy if there were two of me."
One reply read: "I started crying because I know how real this was for me when I was a child."
Another comment added: "Those of you with divorced parents come here I want to hug you I'm so sorry for what you're going through."
A third fan wrote: "Having divorced parents it's better then seeing a loveless marriage and fights all the time."
Meghan and Thomas Markle have become estranged after he staged photos with a paparazzi photographer for money in the run-up to her wedding and then denied it to her.
The saga led to him having two heart attacks and pulling out of attending her wedding, where Meghan was instead walked down the aisle by King Charles III.
However, Meghan did at points speak positively about her father in her Netflix show, saying: "I was a daddy's girl my whole life, and I was with him a lot.
"But I do remember also feeling lonely when I was a kid and wanting to have more people around," Meghan added.
Jack Royston is Newsweek's chief royal correspondent based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III and Queen Camilla, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
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