Oprah Winfrey interviewed Prince Harry and Megan Markle in exclusive CBS Special.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry sat down with Oprah Winfrey for a two-hour interview that aired on CBS Sunday. About 17.1 million people watched the interview in which the Duke and Duchess of Sussex spoke candidly about their experiences with the Royal Family and the media since they married. Below are six of the biggest details to come out of the interview.
1. Meghan suffered from suicidal thoughts –– and says when she asked to get professional help, she was told she couldn't.
Markle disclosed that the breaking point for her came when she began suffering from suicidal thoughts while pregnant with Archie.
"I just didn't see a solution, I would sit up at night and I don't understand how this is being churned out," she said.
"I just didn't want to be alive anymore," she said. "That was a very clear and real and frightening, constant thought."
When she says she asked to get professional help from the institution, she was told she wasn't allowed to. Markle said she confided in one of the "most senior members" of the institution and was told no.
She then says she went to a form of Human Resources within the palace, which she said also said there was "nothing we can do to protect you."
Markle emphasized the importance of compassion for others. "You have no idea what's going on behind closed doors."
2. Meghan and Harry said there were comments made about how dark a child their's would be.
Prior to the birth of Archie, there were "concerns about how dark [his] skin would be," Markle said.
She learned from Prince Harry that some members of the family was "concerned his skin would be too dark" and "what that would mean or look like."
She didn't disclose who was having those conversations, adding, "I think that would be very damaging to them."
Winfrey said Monday that Prince Harry specifically said the comments were not made by his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, or his grandfather, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.
3. Markle said the Royal Family decided Archie would not be a prince.
The couple didn't pay much mind to their son's royal title, but Markle clarified a rumor that she and Prince Harry didn't want to give their son the title of "prince" at all.
"It's not our decision to make," she said.
During the last few months of their pregnancy, Markle said the royal family let it be known that that "we don't want the child to be a prince or a princess," which Markle said "would be different from protocol."
"He wasn't going to receive security," she said, adding that without the official royal title, their son wouldn't be granted the protection that comes with it.
"The idea that the first member of color in this family not being titled in the same way that other grandchildren would be," she said.
"It was important because it affected his safety," she said regarding her son's royal title. "He needs to be safe."
"It's not their right to take it away," she said.
4. Markle said Kate Middleton made her cry, not that she made Kate cry.
Months after the royal wedding, headlines in UK tabloids circulated, claiming that Markle made Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, otherwise known as Kate Middleton, cry over "demands" about flower girl dresses.
"The reverse happened," Markle said when asked about the purported rift.
Markle explained that a few days before the wedding, something was done regarding the flower girl dresses. She did not go into detail, adding that Kate had since apologized with flowers and a note.
"I'm not saying this to be disparaging to anyone," she clarified. "[She] owned it."
She said it was shocking that the story came out months after it happened.
"The issue was correct," Markle said, confirming that the topic in question was concerning flower girl dresses.
"I would have never wanted that to come out about her," she said. "I don't think it's fair to her to get into the details because she apologized and I have forgiven her."
5. When the couple moved to Canada, their security was taken away. Tyler Perry provided them temporary refuge.
In 2019, Markle and Prince Harry left the royal family and moved to Canada with the intention of continuing to serve the Queen. But, just weeks before the pandemic hit, they say they received news that their security would be cut off.
"The biggest concern was that while we were in Canada I then got told short notice that security was going to be removed," Harry said.
He said with the fear of the world knowing their exact location and the world going into lockdown, they needed to think of a plan.
Media mogul Tyler Perry offered them his home as a temporary refuge.
"We didn't have a plan," Markle chimed in. "It gave us breathing room to try to figure out what we were going to do."
Three months later they bought a home and settled in Santa Barbara.
6. They're having a baby girl.
The couple confirmed that they are having a baby girl. She is due "in the summertime."
It was "amazing," Harry said. "Just grateful, like –– to have any child any one or any two would have been amazing, but to have a boy and then a girl, what more can you ask for?"
"Now we've got the four of us and our two dogs and it's great," he continued.
They don't plan to have any more children, they both said.
"Two is it," Meghan chimed in.
If you're having thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in the U.S. at 1-800-273-8255. Additional resources can be found at SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.
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