After apparently getting kicked out of the ESPY awards, WME racked their brains as to how to salvage the image of the Harkles. Fancy winning/purchasing an award, only to be asked to leave early by the organisers and being asked not to attend the after show party! The only cards to play are the victim/sympathy cards as Jane Pauley played her part in a sycophantic interview that was clearly scripted, rehearsed and edited, courtesy of CBS.
The alleged reason for the interview was the launch of another Archewell program, ‘NoChildLostToSocialMedia’ which seems to be a support forum for parents whose children have died with some online activity involved. On the surface, it looks as if these parents are being used to promote what is basically an online forum where parents can support each other and find other ‘resources’ to help them deal with their grief. There are photos of them smiling and saying that them sharing stories may help others and save a life (the same line TW uses in her ‘suicide speech’. However, this might be an unpopular view, it could also be a way for the parents to alleviate any guilt they have for failing to stop the death of their child and there is nothing wrong in that except that (which is human) they are more vulnerable to others who wish to exploit them.
Pauley may say that the parents are not to blame because it’s much easier to blame the internet, social media, or smartphones. However, depression, suicides, anxiety and self-harming affects all ages and has done before the internet existed, and teenagers got into trouble too, so we can’t blame it all on technology. Often it’s down to environmental factors, the social circles that one comes into contact with, and also how strict parents are, and with more absent parents or one parent families these days, teenagers are bound to find trouble. Mixing with a bad crowd inevitably leads to no good, and with parents working long hours or away from home, who is there to supervise or keep a check on their activities?
The promotion of the program is full of keywords and trigger words, and the usual word salad. Roughly translated, it looks like an online chat group and forum where families can get together and support each other, I’m not sure it can claim it is the first of its kind (how can they prove such a claim?), as I imagine there are many support groups that don’t promote themselves to keep things confidential.
Having listened to some of the stories from the parents, they simply didn’t know what their teenagers were up to and it led to their deaths. Buying illegal drugs online can happen to people of any age, and if as a parent said a smartphone addiction was to blame for a death, then take the smartphone away. Regardless, these vulnerable parents might feel that they are helping others, but they are being used for Archewell PR for free and don’t even realise it. I find it disgraceful that they are being used and it looks as if has been sold to them that they are helping others.
Harold sat there slumped in a chair, noticeably leaning away from TW despite the Claw resting on the knee every now and then. He came to life when he claimed that parents must be first responders when it comes to their children in order to protect them, and that no one can spot the signs of anyone suicidal. I’m sure many first responders were offended and one couldn’t help but roll their eyes at Harold using his hands to make a roof sign when he said in the ‘old days’ parents knew what their children were doing under their roof! Ironically, his father didn’t know that he was smoking weed in the local pub when he was a teenager, and he had 24/7 security and staff around to keep an eye on him.
One must be careful talking about suicide as it can trigger many people who have depression or anxiety, and it is careless of CBS to permit such a discussion from people who aren’t qualified to do so with both Harold and TW giving an opinion but not an informed or professional one.
Piers Morgan lost his job on Good Morning Britain for expressing his view that TW’s account of her suicidal episode seemed less than credible. CBS were unwise to bring that up and again and show the segment from the Oprah Winfrey interview where TW claimed she was suicidal and that there was no help available. It looks as if TW is still pushing that card to be played, and the paid for media are focusing on that angle rather than the purpose of the interview which was to promote the Parents’Network program.
Again, the latest regurgitation of the story is even less credible than the previous ones, where Pauley stupidly says that she can see it’s difficult for TW to talk about (although TW looked alert and eager to deliver her lines). Then on cue, TW put her hand on Harold’s leg where Pauley fawned over the move saying that she expected them to look after each other with such an orchestrated gesture. Harold didn’t flinch—perhaps he’s so tired of hearing the story he was trying to stay awake?
TW claims she wasn’t expecting the question on suicidal ideation, but we all know that all questions and responses are prepared beforehand for the camera, and TW gave a very articulate and measured response, playing the victim and saying she would take a hit if it saved a life by sharing her experiences.
The Harkles know that this is a sensitive topic and Pauley does herself no favours by claiming that TW had suffered and thus would understand what the parents are going through, and opens the door for TW to exclaim that she had been through pain and trauma. TW then goes on about ‘overcoming’ her suicidal ideation and promotes how she had ‘healed’ through being open and talking about it.
I can see many mental health professionals raising their eyebrows, and those who have suffered from mental health issues rolling their eyes for one does not overcome genuine suicidal thoughts—they control and deal with them. Another reality check is that people who have attempted suicide or have had thoughts of taking their own life, are not going to open up and talk about how they feel until much later if ever, and then only with people they trust. The fact that TW is able to talk about her ‘experience’ contradicts a real situation, and she then also says that people need to be believed because she knows doubts have been cast on her version of events.
One cannot escape the hypocrisy when she says that people need to check in on others to make sure they are ‘okay’, yet she has a trail of ghosted friends she has abandoned as she doesn’t need them, and while sympathy for her father Thomas Markle has waned, TW is the ultimate hypocrite for ghosting all of her family as she doesn’t need them.
CBS have uploaded the interview on YouTube, and currently after less than 24 hours, there are 14k dislikes versus 2.k likes, with 3.5k comments that are mainly critical of CBS giving the grifters a platform to push their victim agenda, with several first responders stating they are offended at Harold’s comments that are irresponsible. The interview was hardly a success with first responders offended and the focus being on TW and her alleged suffering and trauma while she was a working member of the RF. Yet it can’t be that traumatic as she clings to the royal title and demands that people use it. If it was that traumatic, surely she’d want to sever all ties with anything royal—except, the title is the only thing that opens doors for her and is the only thing that she can sell or rather try to sell.
