Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, was on CNN Heroes Monday morning to salute frontline workers who have worked tirelessly during the coronavirus pandemic.
The television appearance was the first from the duchess since she revealed that she experienced a miscarriage this summer.
On the annual event, CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute, Markle thanked workers who have “stood up and made sure the most basic needs of our communities were met.”
“They made sure those around them did not have to suffer in isolation,” she stated. “We saw the good in people, in our neighbors and in entire communities coming together to say they would not stand by while our neighbors went hungry.”
Markle made her remarks from a bench in her Los Angeles backyard, where she and Prince Harry have made numerous statements during the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’m inspired by the stories of compassion in our communities,” she said. “Across the country, people have put their own needs aside to come together and support the collective well-being of those around them.”
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“Tonight, we are celebrating these quiet heroes, some of whom I know and others that we applaud from afar,” she added. “They showed us, all of us, that even in the darkest times when we come together, we have the power to remind someone else that there is hope and that we will be okay.”
For The New York Times, Markle recently penned an essay, The Losses We Share, detailing the miscarriage of her second child with Prince Harry, in which she noted that 2020 has been a “universally challenging” year for everyone.
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In it, Markle addressed the police killings of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor in Louisville and George Floyd, 46, in Minneapolis.
“In places where there was once community,” she wrote, “there is now division.”
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The essay, which was published just before Thanksgiving, encouraged people to commit to checking in on one another.
“As much as we may disagree, as physically distanced as we may be,” Markle asserted, “the truth is that we are more connected than ever because of all we have individually and collectively endured this year.”
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