Meghan Markle Says This Motherhood Advice From Michelle Obama Left Her ‘Speechless’

It was recently revealed that the multi-talented Meghan Markle helped edit the September issue of British Vogue, and wrote a beautiful interview of former First Lady Michelle Obama as one of the issue's features. The intimate Q&A features a long introduction by the Duchess of Sussex, where Markle remarks that she was "somewhat speechless" after reading Obama's comprehensive, authentic answers to her questions about motherhood. 

And really, we can't blame her. Michelle opened up about the lessons motherhood has taught her, raising resilient daughters and the advice she has shared with them — and she held nothing back. Here are the highlights of Michelle's answers, which Markle called "a gentle reminder not of how but of why she has become such a globally respected public figure."

"Motherhood has taught me that, most of the time, my job is to give them the space to explore and develop into the people they want to be. Not who I want them to be or who I wish I was at that age, but who they are, deep inside. Motherhood has also taught me that my job is not to bulldoze a path for them in an effort to eliminate all possible adversity. But instead, I need to be a safe and consistent place for them to land when they inevitably fail; and to show them, again and again, how to get up on their own."

"As mothers, we just don’t want anything or anyone to hurt our babies. But life has other plans. Bruised knees, bumpy roads and broken hearts are part of the deal. What’s both humbled and heartened me is seeing the resiliency of my daughters. In some ways, Malia and Sasha couldn’t be more different. One speaks freely and often, one opens up on her own terms. One shares her innermost feelings, the other is content to let you figure it out. Neither approach is better or worse, because they’ve both grown into smart, compassionate and independent young women, fully capable of paving their own paths."

"Don’t just check the boxes you think you’re supposed to check, like I did when I was their age. I tell them that I hope they’ll keep trying on new experiences until they find what feels right. And what felt right yesterday might not necessarily feel right today. That’s okay—it’s good, even. When I was in college, I thought I wanted to be a lawyer because it sounded like a job for good, respectable people. It took me a few years to listen to my intuition and find a path that fit better for who I was, inside and out."