Harry and Meghan ‘Won’t Get’ a Royal Relationship After Latest Interview Mentions Oprah ‘Nuclear Bomb’
Things aren’t looking good for Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and the ongoing royal family rift. Their latest sit-down with CBS Sunday Morning—their first one together in years—included a mention of the “nuclear bomb” that was their 2021 Oprah interview. A commentator says rehashing the interview that caused “so much harm” to the royal family suggests the Duke and Duchess of Sussex aren’t concerned with “mend[ing] that rift.”
Oprah interview mentioned in Harry and Meghan’s CBS ‘Sunday Morning’
In a pre-recorded CBS Sunday Morning segment that aired on Aug. 4, 2024, Meghan’s birthday, she and Harry sat down for their first joint interview since their 2021 Oprah interview.
In it, the couple discussed the Archewell Foundation Parents’ Network. The program supports parents whose children have been impacted by bullying and trauma online. It is available in the U.S., U.K., and Canada. It’s part of a collaboration with the Parents Network and its “No Child Lost to Social Media” campaign.
Along the way, Meghan touched on her own negative experience with social media and tabloids. She recalled revealing to Oprah that she “didn’t want to be alive anymore” while pregnant in 2019.
“You know, I haven’t really scraped the surface on my experience,” she told anchor Jane Pauley, noting her hope that by being “really open,” she can help others.
“If me voicing what I have overcome will save someone, or encourage someone in their life to really genuinely check in on them and not assume that the appearance is good, so everything’s OK, then that’s worth it,” Meghan said. “I’ll take a hit for that.”
Mentioning the Oprah interview won’t help heal the royal family rift
Mentioning the Oprah interview, according to commentator Richard Fitzwilliams, may make things between Harry and Meghan and the royal family even worse.
It’s worth noting that the couple didn’t bring it up; rather, the interviewer did. Regardless, the 2021 Oprah sit-down, Fitzwilliams told the Sun, “was like placing a nuclear bomb in the courtyard of Buckingham Palace.”
So to play a “clip from an interview which did so much harm to the royal family” isn’t likely to go over well at the palace.
“I don’t believe that at a time like this, with King Charles and the Princess of Wales seriously ill, the Sussexes should bring in matters which deal with or are linked to their rift with the royal family.”
King Charles III and Kate Middleton were both diagnosed with undisclosed types of cancer earlier in the year. Their treatment is ongoing.
“What Meghan said in the CBS interview about the issues and her mental health and the fact that she felt suicidal is a very, very serious charge to lay against the royal family,” he said.
“If you want a relationship of any sort and you give interviews of this sort that bring up memories that will undoubtedly damage the institution, clearly you won’t get it. It doesn’t look like either of them want to bridge that gap or mend that rift.”
Meghan didn’t expect to talk about her own mental health during the interview
Discussing the topic of suicide wasn’t something Meghan expected to do when she and Harry sat down for the interview. Pauley even noted the former Suits star’s apparent surprise when she brought it up.
“The connection that you have with people is that they know that you have suffered too, personally contemplating killing yourself,” Pauley told Meghan. The anchor then noted the former Suits star appeared noticeably “uncomfortable” with her “going there.”
“I understand why you are though,” Meghan replied. “I wasn’t expecting it, but I understand why you are.”
How to get help: In the U.S., call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Or text HOME to 741-741 to speak with a trained crisis counselor at the free Crisis Text Line.
