Meghan Markle Takes Viewers On Heartbreaking Journey Of Her Past With Childhood Poem

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's long-awaited tell-all docu-series, "Harry & Meghan," has officially hit Netflix, and it's offering plenty of insight into the pair's home life. We all know that Meghan and Harry have been under quite a bit of scrutiny for their decision to leave the royal family, but in their new series, the couple makes it clear how and why this decision aligned with their priorities.

In the series' second episode, Meghan reveals that her home life growing up wasn't always picture perfect, which has a lot to do with the stable, secure life she seeks for her kids today. In her own words, she says, "There's so much I think from anyone's childhood that you bring with you into the present, especially when you're the product of divorce." Harry, whose parents famously split when he was eight years old shares his wife's sentiment, saying, "I think most kids who are the product of divorced parents have a lot in common, not matter what your background is. Being pulled from one place to another, or maybe your parents are competitive, or you're in one place longer than you want to be, or another place less than you want to be. There's all sorts of pieces to that." 

It's safe to say that these feelings give the pair an extra push to protect their children, 3-year-old Archie, and 1-year-old Lilibet, from a fractured home life. A poem Meghan read from her childhood shows us exactly what it is that she's afraid of for her own children.

In the second episode, Meghan Markle reads a poem aloud that she wrote when she was just twelve years old, six years after the divorce of her parents. The poem was written for a school assignment that called for "a poem about your life."  She reads, "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/ A picket fence, a shaggy dog/ A fire place, 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."

It's noteworthy that at age 12, this is how Meghan defined "her life." With memories as clear and painful as these ones, it's easy to see why Meghan would work as hard as she is to ensure that her children have the stable "nuclear life" that she sought as a child. It's clear that in spite of criticism, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle truly understand each other and have shared values that are ideal for keeping their children's lives private, safe, and happy.