Most people don't fail in relationships because of the lack of love or because they've fallen out of love.

They fail because they don't understand what they're walking into, and that's exactly what we're gonna talk about today.

Welcome back to Relationship Status: Uncomplicated, the podcast.

This is season three. This is season three, and we're doing things differently.

This season, we're looking at real-life, high-profile relationships, not to judge people, not to gossip, but to take away the lessons. 'Cause if you can see the pattern out there, you can correct it in your own life.

So today we're gonna talk about what I like to call the Meghan Markle mistake: Turning a prince into a pauper.

Now let me be clear, this is not a personal attack on Meghan because I don't know her and I don't know Harry, and it's making me a little bit sad that so many people are reveling in the unfortunate situation that they find themselves in.

I know a lot of people will say that Meghan and Harry created this negative atmosphere around themselves, but I mean, we're all human and we all make mistakes.

Everybody's mistakes in life is not broadcast around the world.

So let's just be a little bit compassionate and understand that even though we think of them as just people in the tabloids or news stories or video clips, you know, they are human.

They have feelings. They have families. You know, they're, they're people too.

So I'm not saying anything negative about Meghan. I'm not saying anything negative about Harry, but they are in a very unfortunate situation, and this is about what we can observe and what we can learn.

So there are three mistakes that I believe Meghan made.

So there are three core mistakes here, and honestly, these are mistakes people make every day in regular relationships.

Her first mistake was the lack of awareness, or simply put, she did not fully understand what she was stepping into.

This wasn't just a relationship with a handsome young man, single bachelor whose family had money.

This was a relationship with a different culture.

Harry is from the UK, a different system. They live under the monarchy and a completely, totally different way of life.

And you don't just date a person, you date their entire world.

So Meghan didn't do her research. I don't think Meghan understood the crown, the monarchy, because, you know, as Americans, we have a very idealized, romanticized idea about what a princess is.

So we think that you just wear beautiful gowns, a tiara, and you have servants, and you live in a castle.

And that's true, but they are working royals, which means that they have certain obligations to the people, the society, and I don't think she understood that.

I don't think she understood the very specific roles. She didn't understand the rules of engagement.

So I think she really went in without doing her research.

So if you go in to someone's world and you don't understand that world, you're gonna struggle in it, and that's what happened to Meghan.

We saw her struggling.

But that applies to everybody.

It might not be the monarchy for you, but it could be his family dynamics, his lifestyle, his expectations, his environment.

And if you don't take the time to understand those things, you end up overwhelmed, frustrated, and blindsided.

You won't succeed in a space you never took the time to understand.

The second mistake that Meghan made is believing that love is enough to override everything else, and it absolutely is not.

It's not ever going to be the end-all, say-all. It's never gonna be enough.

Because love does not erase family dynamics, it doesn't change long-standing relationships or deeply rooted structures.

And one of the fastest ways to damage a relationship is to put someone in a position where they have to choose between you and their family.

That's not love, that's pressure, and pressure turns into resentment.

Because here's the truth, family is not just other people.

You know, family is history, family is identity, family is foundation.

So if you feel like you have to compete with that, you're already in a losing position.

And let me say this clearly, if a choice has to be made, you make the choice.

You don't force someone to choose you.

You choose yourself, because relationships built on ultimatums do not last.

Those type of relationships, the ones built on ultimatums, those type of relationships, they don't last.

The third mistake is misalignment.

Not in value as a person, but in preparation for the life you're entering.

And now this is very important because you could be considered a high-value woman and still be unprepared for a specific environment.

So for example, Meghan went to private schools. She was a TV actress.

So she would consider a high-value woman on certain levels and, to certain extents.

But actually, and I know I'm probably gonna catch a lot of flak for this, the fact that she was already married and divorced, it didn't lower her value as a person, but in the dating game, it did take away from her value in relation to the prince.

And she was older than him, so there was a lot of misalignment there.

They weren't, they weren't on the same level, and I think that, that was one of the things that they thought love could overcome and was overlooked that I believe played a strong dynamic in how she was able to kinda dominate and, in some situations, people would say manipulate Harry because she was a little bit more advanced and experienced than he was.

So you can be considered a high-volume woman and still be, I'm not gonna say undervalued, but your value can be evaluated differently depending on specific environments.

And every level of life requires a different level of capacity, different expectations, different pressures, different responsibilities.

But if you step into something you're not prepared to sustain, you'll be exposed.

The situation is eventually gonna expose you.

You're gonna be exposed as unprepared.

You're gonna be exposed as unaware.

You're gonna be exposed, and it's not gonna be a good look.

So let's all just please, can we just please stop asking what someone brings to the table?

Can we please just stop asking what someone brings to the table and start asking if you understand the life that comes with them?

What are you sitting down at the table to?

Because you don't just date a person, you date their entire world, their family, their lifestyle, their expectations, their hopes, their dreams, their flaws, their failures, their shortcomings.

And if you're not prepared for that world, you are going to struggle in it, and love will not save you.

Love will have you saying yes to a life that you didn't even take the time to understand, and that's where people go wrong.

Relationships don't fail from lack of love.

Relationships don't fail from lack of love.

They fail from lack of awareness.

And even though you may have turned a blind eye, you weren't blindsided.

You weren't prepared because you were not fully aware and did not understand what you were committing yourself to.

Emotional responsibility changes relationships.

Let's make relationships uncomplicated.