Oprah has admitted she was "surprised" by the revelations made by Meghan Markle and Prince Harry during their bombshell interview with her.
During their sit-down with Oprah in March, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex recalled painful discussions about the color of their son’s skin as well as losing royal protection and the intense pressures that led Meghan to contemplate suicide. Looking back, Oprah told Nancy O’Dell during an appearance on "Talkshoplive" on Friday that she did not anticipate how deep the interview would go.
"Yeah, I was surprised," she said. "I was surprised at the amount of, you know, literally with that thing that's now become a meme, that's like, 'What?' I'm like, 'What? You're going there? You're going all the way there?'"
Oprah shared that she had communicated with Meghan and Harry prior to the interview via text to discuss what their "intention" was to ensure they were all on the same page.
"Our shared intention was the truth," she added. "They wanted to be able to tell their story and tell it in such a way that allowed them to be truthful as possible."
Weeks before the interview was set to air, sources revealed to the U.K.’s Mirror that it had to be re-edited to include the dramatic changes that occurred in the couple's lives after they were stripped of their royal patronages when they revealed they would be doing the interview with Oprah.
No further details were shared until a set of promo videos were released, offering a glimpse into what could be expected. Oprah explained to O’Dell that a lot of "time and effort and energy" was put into ensuring nothing was leaked before the interview aired on March 7.
"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," she said. "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."
The interview caused a massive sensation and Oprah said the reason it was so "powerful" was because Meghan and Harry were willing to be so "vulnerable" and "truthful."
"I don't give myself credit for that," she said. "I give myself credit for asking the questions, but the reason the interview was the way it was was because they answered the way they did."
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