The great American media mogul reveals hitherto unpublished details of that historic television moment.
On March 8, she went down in history for the broadcast of the interview conducted with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry by the all-powerful Oprah Winfrey, who has now spoken openly about the details of the interview and about her own reaction to certain statements with which which did not count as accusations of racism within the British royal house, something that Prince William would later explicitly deny.
"I had no idea that this meeting would reverberate in the way it did," said the 67-year-old presenter, and that the aim of the interview was to "allow them to be as sincere as possible."
This interview was broadcast in difficult circumstances for the Windsors, as Prince Philip was hospitalized as a result of a heart condition, which led to him undergoing surgery a month later.
It was precisely during the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh where we were able to see Prince Charles' two sons together again, after the youngest had said during the interview that their relationship was distant at the moment.
Oprah has reflected on the interview on Nancy O'Dell's channel, where she promoted her new book, 'What Happened To You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing.' and she stated that although she had prepared for the interview and the consequences of it, she admitted that she was not prepared for statements of the magnitude of those made by the Sussexes. Especially those related to the doubts that a member of the English royal house had about the skin color of her son Archie.
At that moment, as you may remember, Oprah Winfrey's jaw dropped. An image, by the way, that gave rise to countless memes that went viral on social networks. Because although the presenter had sent some text messages before the interview with them, she was not aware of her intentions.
"When I go to interview someone who is so significant, I have a conversation with them beforehand. I didn't see Harry and Meghan before, but I did send them some messages to tell them that the intention is very important to me and to tell me what the intention was. theirs, so that we could align around that goal. And our shared intention was the truth. Their intention was to tell their story and to tell it in a way that allowed them to be as truthful as possible."
And Winfrey explained why in her opinion the interview had such an impact: "The reason it was such a powerful interview, first of all, because I know how to ask, and you, Nancy, we all know how to do our jobs, but what What makes it powerful is having someone who is willing to be as open, vulnerable and honest as they were."
"I don't take any credit for that. I take credit for asking the questions, but the reason the interview was what it was, was because they answered the way they did," she stressed.
Another key to the success of the interview was discretion: "It was really important to me that what was said for everyone to hear had not been leaked and were not misinterpreted before the interview aired."
To that end, Oprah issued a warning to all parties involved: "I remember when we finished the interview, which lasted three hours and twenty minutes, I think, I stood up and said to the team, 'we all know what was said here. and how important it is to have the trust of the people who have shared all this, so I wish that none of you would share with anyone what has happened here. And no one did."
There was also a strategy designed between the network, CBS, and her: "We made clips public to CBS in such a way that nothing that was shown could be exploited. I put a lot of time and energy on my part in that regard."
The Susses also talked about Meghan's fight against depression and even Meghan admitted that she "did not want to be alive", how Prince Charles did not answer the phone to his son, how Kate Middleton, according to her sister-in-law's version, It made him cry before the wedding. Issues that raised tension between both sides of the family, whose turning point may have been precisely the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh.
