Diana Spencer became the Princess of Wales in 1981 a few weeks after turning 20 years old and she immediately caught the attention of the whole world. People loved her accessibility, her warmth, her community service, and her style. But beneath it all, she was deeply unhappy and lonely, despite her boundless love for her two children and all the others she touched through her charity work. Devastatingly, she wasn’t able to escape it and passed away at 36 years old.

Just a few days ago in March 2021, Meghan Markle, the former Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry’s wife, came forward with similar revelations about her time in the royal family – years marked by life-threatening depression, lack of support, loneliness, and the added layer of being a multiracial American woman in a deeply, historically oppressive institution. The similarities are stark, and the two womens’ stories tie together and paint a picture of a truly problematic system for women and women of color.

This week I’m by myself covering Princess Diana – her life, her legacy, and how her story is tied to Meghan’s – and my plea for compassionate media consumption as we see how damaging these systems are to women of all strides in the public eye.

CW: Suicidal ideations, mental health, bipolar personality disorder, self-harm, disordered eating, public humiliation, shame, harassment