Meghan Markle gives first interview about Disney+ documentary Elephant on Good Morning America

Meghan Markle has opened up about her Disneynature documentary Elephant on Good Morning America, talking about the impact she hoped the film would have.

The Duchess of Sussex narrates the Disney+ exclusive about elephants in the wild and she said she hoped it would help people “realise how connected we all are.”

Good Morning America shared a pre-recorded interview clip of Meghan, in which she praised elephants’ “amazing” memories and “the protectiveness of their young.”

The outlet revealed it was filmed last year, while Meghan was working on the project.

Duchess Meghan Markle talks about Disneynature film 'Elephant' in exclusive 1st look that features an interview with producers from last summer. https://t.co/mzu6P496cg pic.twitter.com/F3eaXQuAne

— Good Morning America (@GMA)

April 20, 2020

The Duchess said she was "really grateful" to be involved with the project in a longer version of the interview shared to Disney+'s social media accounts.

She explained, "I've been very lucky to have hands-on experience with elephants in their natural habitat. When you spend time connecting to them and other wildlife you really understand that we have a role to play in their preservation and their safety."

Megan and Prince Harry have in the past worked with Elephants Without Borders and shared pictures from a 2017 trip to Botswana on their Instagram, in which they were seen working with the charity and helping to place a tracking collar on an elephant.

View this post on Instagram

🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘 Today is #WorldElephantDay and we are pleased to announce that since we followed our friends at @ElephantswithoutBorders (EWB) on Instagram in July, when we were celebrating the environment, you and our friend @TheEllenFund (@TheEllenShow) have spread the word and EWB have been able to help protect 25 elephants by fitting them with satellite navigation collars! These collars allow the team at EWB to track the elephants, as well as to learn their essential migratory patterns to keep their corridors safe and open so future generations of elephants can roam freely. In honour of this amazing support, EWB have named their most recently collared Elephant...ELLEN! We can’t wait to see where she will go! 🐘 Two years ago on World Elephant Day, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex joined Dr Chase to help in this conservation effort. Below, a few words from Mike and his partner Kelly at EWB: • ‘Today is a day to honor and celebrate the majestic elephant and to make a strong stand for conserving and protecting one of the world’s most beloved animals. elephants are intelligent, sentient beings capable of emotions from joy to grief. They are ‘environmental engineers,’ a key-stone umbrella species, and the fight to save them is in effect, a fight to save entire ecosystems and all wildlife. Today elephants are facing many challenges; habitat loss and competition for resources creates conflict with humans, climate change and fires destroy much needed resources and poaching for the demand of ivory makes elephants bigger targets than ever. African elephants are especially prone to human-wildlife conflict because of their large home ranges. Finding, preserving and creating elephant corridors is therefore of great importance in helping to maintain habitats suitable for movement and minimising human-elephant conflict. Corridors are a mitigation technique to better the livelihoods of local communities and the elephants themselves, by providing environment and ample space for wildlife to navigate from one habitat patch to another, without affecting the livelihoods of communities.’ • EWB - Dr Mike Chase, Ms Kelly Landen . 📸 by DOS © SussexRoyal Additional photos: EWB

A post shared by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (@sussexroyal) on Aug 12, 2019 at 6:00am PDT

Meghan added in the pre-recorded interview, “I think they’re a lot more like us than they are different.”

“I hope that when people see this film they realise how connected we all are,” she said, “And if we had more of an awareness about the obstacles we’re facing, I think we’d take care of each other, this planet and animals in a very different way.”

It was initially believed the interview would be live in Good Morning America promos according to Deadline, however it was instead a ‘pre-recorded asset from the Elephants film.’ A longer version of the featurette was also shared to Disney+'s social media accounts.

View this post on Instagram

“This is a side of elephants we rarely see.” 🐘 @Disneynature’s Elephant, an Original Movie narrated by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, is now streaming on #DisneyPlus.

A post shared by Disney+ (@disneyplus) on Apr 20, 2020 at 5:49am PDT

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Meghan and Prince Harry are currently staying in their new home in Los Angeles, though the couple has been seen volunteering for the charity Project Angel Food to deliver meals to those in need.

Elephant is streaming now on Disney+.