LOS ANGELES — The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan, has told Oprah Winfrey that she experienced suicidal thoughts and was concerned when the decision was made that her son wouldn't have a royal title.
Meghan, who is biracial, told Winfrey in the interview airing Sunday night in the U.S. that there were discussions among the royal family about how dark her son's skin would be.
Meghan told Winfrey in the interview airing Sunday that she “just didn’t see a solution” to the mental suffering she had experienced and told Harry she “didn’t want to be alive anymore.”
She said she went to a senior royal staffer and said she needed to get help for her mental health, but was told it would be bad for the family if she did.
She described the moment as a breaking point leading to her and Harry stepping aside from their royal duties.
Meghan however refused to criticize Queen Elizabeth II, saying she had “always been wonderful to me.”
Winfrey asked Harry whether he would have stepped down from his royal duties if he had never met Meghan. Harry replied that “I wouldn’t have been able to, because I myself was trapped as well” until ”the moment that I met Meg.”
Prince Harry denied blindsiding the queen with the news that he and Meghan were stepping down from their royal duties, saying it was preceded by several conversations.
He did however say that his father, Prince Charles, has stopped taking his calls.
Harry said his family cut him off financially in early 2020. Harry said “we did everything we did to make it work” and would never have left had the palace been supportive of Meghan.
The couple also revealed their second child, due later this summer, will be a girl. Their first child, son Archie, turns 2 in May.
Harry says “to have a boy and then a girl, what more can you ask for? But now we’ve got our family."
Winfrey's interview with Harry and his wife Meghan opened with the host saying no questions are off limits and that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are not being paid for the televised special. Early moments focused on Meghan describing how naive she was about royal life, including that she “didn't fully understand what the job was" and spent nights "googling" because there was no formal training or effort to teach her.
The interview special aired on CBS and will be shown the following day in Britain.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a national network of local crisis centers that provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Call 1-800-273-8255 if you are experiencing thoughts of suicide or mental distress.
