There have been few news stories in 2021 that have generated as much discussion as Meghan Markle and Prince Harry‘s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey where the couple shared their experiences with the British royal family and press. The things that Meghan and Harry revealed dominated the news cycle and sent The Firm into panic mode, perhaps even more so than anyone could have expected. It was certainly a shock to Winfrey, who admitted on The Nancy O’Dell Channel‘s talkshoplive that she didn’t anticipate the information that Meghan shared or the impact that it would have.
“I was surprised,” Oprah explained. “What? You’re going there? You’re going all the way there?” Over the course of the interview, Markle spilled some boiling hot tea, revealing things like the lack of support she received from Buckingham Palace when she was feeling suicidal and the apparent concern over how black their children would be.
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“I had no idea that it would have the reverberating impact that it has had and continues to have. I did a lot of preparation for that,” Oprah continued. “It was really important to me that what we put out there in the world was put out into the world at the time that everybody could see it and that things didn’t leak and things weren’t misconstrued before the actual interview happened.”
Oprah revealed that following the three-hour interview, she impressed upon the crew the importance of not leaking any soundbites ahead of the airtime. “I stood up and said to the crew, ‘We all know what was said here and how important it is to have a trust to the people who just shared that, so I’m hoping you all will not go out into the world and share what has happened here.’ And nobody did,” Oprah said. “So as we were releasing clips to CBS, we were releasing them in such a way that whatever was being put out there could not be exploited. So a lot of time and effort and energy went into it on my part.”
The main difference between her usual interview and the interview with the Sussexes was that they weren’t able to meet up before the final taping. However, she did communicate with them ahead of time via text. “I didn’t see Meghan and Harry before but I did text them and say, ‘Intention is very important to me. Tell me what your intention is so that we can be aligned in our goal,’” Oprah explained. Our shared intention was the truth. They wanted to be able to tell their story and tell it in such a way that allowed them to be as truthful as possible.”
Ultimately, Oprah believes that the impact of the interview is directly related to their desire to tell the truth. “What makes it powerful is when you have somebody else who is willing to be as open, as vulnerable, as truthful as they were,” Oprah concluded. “The reason the interview was what it was because they answered the way they did.”
