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Canadian star defends Meghan Markle from 'mom-shamers'

Meghan Markle holds baby Archie at a polo match in July 2019
Meghan Markle - holding Archie at a polo match in July 2019 - has come under fire from 'mom shamers' once again. Photo: Getty Images.

A Canadian TV star has come to Meghan Markle’s defence after the Duchess was once again ‘mom-shamed’ over the way she was holding her eight-month-old son, Archie, on a recent hike.

Jessi Cruickshank, the former host of MTV’s After Show series, has taken to Instagram to slam those who criticised how the new mum had positioned her boy in his baby carrier while walking near her new home on Vancouver Island.

Jessi, 38, admitted that she herself had judged Meghan at first but quickly realised she’d placed her own kids - twin sons, Diego and Rio - in ‘much worse positions’.

Canadian star Jessi Cruickshank has defended Meghan Markle from 'mom-shamers'. Photo: Instagram/jessicruickshank.
Canadian star Jessi Cruickshank has defended Meghan Markle from 'mom-shamers'. Photo: Instagram/jessicruickshank.

Archie is ‘fine’

To demonstrate her point, Jessi shared a photo of herself juggling her little ones - one on her hip and the other in a baby carrier - alongside a pap pic of Meghan and Archie.

“Meghan Markle was shamed for carrying her baby like this. At first, I shamed her too - I thought, ‘Don’t you have a million nannies? Can’t someone help you with that?’” she wrote in the caption.

“Then I realised, she is a new mom, figuring this out like the rest of us. I have unintentionally held my baby in much worse positions in the carrier...and I didn’t have dogs or armed guards or paparazzi to deal with. My babies were fine, as is hers,” she added.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with their son, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor. REUTERS/Toby Melville/Pool
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with their son, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor. REUTERS/Toby Melville/Pool

Not everyone online agreed with Jessi, however, with many ‘parenting experts’ doling out an unwanted helping of mom-shaming and advice when the controversial photos emerged earlier this week.

“That baby looks like he’s about to fall out of that thing,” one person wrote on an Instagram post by Daily Mail, the publication that first published the shots. “Will this woman ever learn how to carry that kid?”

“Does anyone notice that it’s much more important for her to have her whole face smiling at the camera than having Archie settled in the correct position in the carrier?” another commented.

One Twitter user went as far as to say that the Duchess should be subjected to a ‘welfare check’.

“Someone needs to do a welfare check on this family because Meghan Markle does not seem right,” they wrote. “Look how the strap is falling off her shoulder. Baby is not secured and not protected.”

‘Let’s do better’

Elsewhere in her post, Jessi went on to urge mothers, and social media users in general, to stop judging and start supporting one another.

“We’ll only start feeling better about ourselves as moms, when we stop judging others,” she said.

“When we look at this picture of Meghan Markle and say, ‘Isn’t it great that she’s out enjoying nature with her baby?’ When we tell a mom friend or stranger at the park that she’s doing a great job. When we are honest about our own struggles and failures as moms, and when we tell each other the truth about motherhood.”

She concluded with a call to action for everyone to ‘do better’ moving forward.

“I’m trying to do better, let’s do better together,” she wrote.

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Di Filippo.

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