WATCH | Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle's emotional interview on motherhood

Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle has opened up about the pressures of being a new mother, a wife and doing it all in the public eye.

Speaking to ITV during her recent tour of SA with Duke of Sussex Prince Harry, Markle said she never thought the scrutiny “would be easy, but I thought it would be fair”. 

“Any woman, especially when they’re pregnant, you’re really vulnerable, and so that made it really challenging. And then when you have a newborn, you know. And especially as a woman, it’s a lot,” she said.

When asked how she was coping, Markle said: “So you add this on top of just trying to be a new mom or trying to be a newlywed. It’s um ... yeah. I guess, also thank you for asking, because not many people have asked if I’m OK, but it’s a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes.”

Markle's comments came after the couple announced their decision to take legal action against Britain's Mail On Sunday newspaper for publishing a private letter she sent to her father, Thomas Markle.

In a statement, the couple warned they had been forced to take action against “relentless propaganda”.

Prince Harry said: "My deepest fear is history repeating itself. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.

“There is a human cost to this relentless propaganda, specifically when it is knowingly false and malicious, and though we have continued to put on a brave face — as so many of you can relate to — I cannot begin to describe how painful it has been.” 

TimesLIVE reported that the UK tabloids fell out of love with the duchess, saying she was “difficult”.

Six months after her fairy tale wedding, she was faced with daily tabloid headlines criticising her manner and her fractured American family. She was also accused of causing palace fallouts.

A close friend to the couple, actor George Clooney, said: “She has been pursued and vilified and chased in the same way that (the late Princess) Diana was and it's history repeating itself.

“We've seen how that ends,” he told Who magazine in February.