Meghan Markle and the royal pregnancy announcement: media mis/reporting of advanced maternal age

Abstract

Although Meghan Markle has been both championed and challenged for negotiating extant representations of marriage and romance, race, class and feminism, more recently the former actress found herself at the centre of a debate over in/fertility and ‘geriatric’ motherhood. Using Markle as a case in point, the women’s magazine, health, beauty and celebrity entertainment sector demonstrated concern for the high alarm strategies being presented in relation to older motherhood. With this in mind, this article will look at the gendered magazine sector and question the ways in which their narratives of advanced maternal age in general, and their commentary on Markle’s successful royal pregnancy in particular can be understood as either a productive or problematic step in opening up a debate about advanced maternal age, pregnancy and age-related in/fertility.