A year after Meghan Markle married Prince Harry in a fairytale wedding, she aired in an interview on Sunday night that her life as a member of the British royal family had become so emotionally unbearable that she considered suicide.
At another point, family members told Meghan, a former United States actress, and Harry that they did not want the couple’s unborn child to be a prince or princess, and expressed concern about how dark the color of the baby’s skin would be. be.
The revelations, made in an eagerly awaited interview on CBS with Oprah Winfrey, were most contagious by Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, 39, who got married in the House of Windsor and discovered less of a fairy tale than what she described as the cruel. loss of her freedom and identity.
“I was ashamed to admit it to Harry,” Meghan said of her suicidal thoughts. “I knew if I did not say it, I would do it. I just did not want to live anymore. ”
She said that although her husband was deeply concerned about her condition – holding her hands tightly during public events, her efforts to seek medical help were rejected by palace officials, who were concerned about the impact on the institution. She described herself as a prisoner at Kensington Palace.
“I could not just call an Uber to the palace,” she said.
Meghan did not say which family member asked questions about her baby’s skin color, nor did she fully explain why the royal family did not automatically intend to grant a royal title, which would provide the child with safety.
Other revelations were less revealing. Her sister-in-law, Kate, said she was driven to tears in a collision over dresses for the flower girls, rather than the reverse as widely reported. One of Meghan’s assistants told her not to go out to lunch with friends because she was too exposed, even though she had only left her house twice in four months.
And Harry and Meghan have announced the happier news that their second child, who is coming this summer, will be a girl.
Meghan, her baby bump clearly visible, spoke comfortably and with humor about her early meeting with her future in-laws. Moments before she was introduced to Queen Elizabeth II, she learned how to go about it and insisted that she knew nothing of what was expected of her as a working royal.
“I did not do research on what that would mean,” she said. “I never looked up my husband online.”
For an American audience that summed up the palace plot portrayed in the popular Netflix series “The Crown,” it was the equivalent of a juicy bonus episode. For the royal family, who were already hospitalized by his patriarch, Prince Philip, it was a painful memory, a year after Harry and Meghan had turned their backs on royal life, that the wounds of the split had not yet come. do not cure.
On both sides of the Atlantic, it was the most-awaited royal interview since Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, told the BBC in 1995 that ‘the three of us were in this marriage’, referring to her husband, Prince Charles , and his extramarital marriage. relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, with whom he later married.
Like Meghan, Diana was a glamorous outsider who brought a shower of dust to the House of Windsor when she married Charles, only to become deeply unhappy within the royal life. Unlike Meghan, her marriage fell apart amid competing allegations of infidelity, and by the time she spoke to BBC journalist Martin Bashir, she said the palace saw her as a ‘threat of some sort’. ‘ regard.
Diana’s interview was a vivid bookend for her turbulent years in the royal family and was a pop cultural moment that attracted one of the greatest British television audiences in history, survived a parody on “Saturday Night Live” and the media ‘s substantial hunger for all things Diana. Two years later, she died in Paris, the victim of a car accident after a swift chase with photographers.
Harry appealed to the tragedy with Mrs. Winfrey and says of his wife’s repeated clashes with the tabloid: “My biggest concern was that history repeated itself.” He blamed journalists for the death of his mother for a long time and said one of the reasons the couple moved to California was to escape the incessant media glare.
And yet the couple sits in comfortable wicker chairs outside a low round table, perhaps one of the country’s most recognizable television hosts. Winfrey’s list of well-known interviews includes Michael Jackson, Barack Obama, Kim Kardashian and Donald J. Trump – and she’s known for her disrespect for being out of bounds (in 1993 she asked a non-plucky Mr Jackson if he was a virgin).
However, Meghan gave the interview as a chance to retell her own story, after a period when she claimed that her reputation had been distorted by an angry pony newspaper that fed a diet of falsehoods by jealous court officials.
Even the choice of Meghan’s wardrobe was calculated to telegraph the message of a new beginning. Her elegant black dress, designed by Giorgio Armani, features a striking lotus flower design that, according to her staff, symbolizes revival and a will to live. She also wore a diamond tennis bracelet that once belonged to Diana.
But the couple’s attempt to relocate their public image did not go home. In the days before the broadcast, new allegations surfaced that Meghan had bullied members of her staff, causing junior assistants to tear down and expel two personal assistants from the palace. Meghan dismissed the allegations as character assassination, while Buckingham Palace said it would look into them.
“What’s going on is a major battle for control of the story,” said Peter Hunt, a former BBC royal correspondent. ‘What is our definite judgment as to why Harry and Meghan left the royal family? Do we accept Oprah for two hours or do we believe the charges of bullying? ‘
Meghan does not have a shortage of defenders. Patrick J. Adams, an actor who worked with her on the television series ‘Suits’, described her on Twitter last week as a deep sense of morality and a hard work ethic. “The royal family,” said Mr. Adams said was “obscene” to advance allegations of bullying against her.
Critics have long detected some racism in the way some people react to Meghan, a woman of professionals who was divorced before she met Harry. While initially sensational in their coverage of the couple, Britain’s tabloids turned against them, publishing unflattering articles on how they spit carbon on private jets and restricted access to their newborn son, Archie.
Some also point to the hypocrisy of Buckingham Palace investigating allegations of bullying against Meghan when Prince Andrew, the Queen’s second son and Harry’s uncle, refused to speak to US authorities about allegations of sex trafficking by his deceased friend. , the convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein. .
Although British newspapers covered every conceivable corner of the interview, some made it clear that there was interest in the interest. The Sunday Times of London reported that the Queen did not intend to watch the program, which is quite predictable, as it will be broadcast in London after midnight. It airs on the UK ITV network on Monday night.
Others in Britain have tried to downplay its importance, pointing out that there are other important things going on in the country: schools need to reopen on Monday, and the introduction of the coronavirus vaccine continues. At least one prominent British leader has said he does not intend to stand up for it.
“Of course I’m interested in all sorts of things around the world,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday when asked about Harry and Meghan. “I think it’s quite late in our time, so I’ll probably miss it.”
If you think of suicide, call the National Lifestyle in Suicide Prevention in the United States 1-800-273-8255 (TALK). You can find a list of additional resources at SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.