'Not catty, it's cruel': Meghan recalls hate she received when pregnant

M?eghan, Duchess of Sussex has opened up about the hatred she received while pregnant with her children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet and how it has shaped her approach to social media today.

Speaking at an International Women's Day panel event ?alongside actress Brooke Shields and news presenter Katie Couric, the royal shared her experience with cyberbullying in the past.

"I keep my distance from it right now for my wellbeing but the bulk of the bullying and abuse I was experiencing in social media and online was when I was pregnant with Archie and with Lili, and with a newborn, with each of them," she shared with the crowd, in which her husband Prince Harry was sitting front row in support.

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"You just think about that and to wrap your head about why people would be so hateful. It's not catty, it's cruel. Why you would do that when you're pregnant or as a mum at such a tender and sacred time.

"You could succumb to it, or nearly succumb to how painful that is. Or maybe because I was pregnant that mammalian instinct just kicks in to do everything you can to protect your child and as a result protect yourself too."

It comes as the Duchess of Sussex teamed up with ?the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and US organisation Moms First to promote a new study on better representation of mothers in Hollywood, also in ?light of International Women's Day.

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It's a subject close to her heart, with Moms First founder and CEO Reshma Saujani telling Vanity Fair: "She had a line she would say, and I always steal it from her, 'The most important title I have is mother.'"

The new ?study, which was funded by her and Prince Harry's Archewell Foundation, highlights key gaps in the way mums are portrayed on TV.

"My past experience as an actress, and now today as a producer and mother, have amplified my belief in the critical importance of supporting women and moms both behind the lens and in front of it," she said in a statement, via Vanity Fair.

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"This report about the portrayal of mothers in entertainment highlights the gaps we need to fill to achieve true representation in the content we create and consume, and I'm honored to support this work through the Archewell Foundation."