Meghan Markle is embracing her newfound freedom and opening up about the limitations imposed on her by the royal family as well as the new appreciation she has for making her own choices.
“It’s really liberating to be able to have the right and the privilege in some ways to be able to say, ‘Yes ... I’m ready to talk,’” she said.
Her remarks come during a hotly anticipated interview with Oprah, set to air on CBS on Sunday at 8 p.m. The preview, released on Friday, sees the famed talk show host recalling her efforts to get an interview with Markle ahead of her wedding to Prince Harry.
“I called you either in February or March 2018 before the wedding asking, ‘Would you please get me an interview,’ and you said, ‘I’m sorry, it’s not the right time,’” Oprah says at the start of their exchange.
Meghan responds with a soft smile, saying she remembers the conversation and that the choice not do the interview was not her own. The former royal added that she wasn’t even alone on the phone line when Oprah reached out more than three years ago.
She also reflected on why now is the right time to share her side of the story and how her life has changed since she and Harry officially split the royal family.
“We’re on the other side of a lot of, a lot of life experience that’s happened,” Meghan said. “And also that we have the ability to make our own choices in a way that I couldn’t have said yes to you then, that wasn’t my choice to make.”
“As an adult who lived a really independent life to then go into this construct that is, um, different than I think what people imagine it to be.”
In another clip from the interview released earlier this week, Winfrey asked the duchess: “How do you feel about the palace hearing you speak your truth today?”
“I don’t know how they could expect that after all of this time we would still just be silent if there is an active role that The Firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us,” Meghan responded in the teaser, released on Wednesday.
“And if that comes with risk of losing things, I mean — there’s a lot that has been lost already,” she added.
It came the same day the Buckingham Palace announced that it would be launching a probe into bullying allegations raised against Meghan, which were initially reported by The Times in the U.K.
