Oprah Winfrey is best known for her groundbreaking talk show career and her continued work as a media mogul and interviewer. The television legend sat down with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for a bombshell interview in 2021, shortly after they stepped back from royal life and relocated their family from the United Kingdom to California. Now, Winfrey has revisited the most viral and memorable moment from the landmark conversation, which resonated globally and became one of the interview’s most quoted moments.According to Vanity Fair, the most significant exchange from the lengthy interview came when Meghan spoke about being “silent” about her time with the royal family. “I’ve always valued independence. I’ve always been outspoken, especially about women’s rights,” the Duchess of Sussex said at the time. “I mean, that’s the sad irony of the last four years is, I’ve advocated for so long for women to use their voice. And then, I was silent.“
The Sussexes’ landmark television interview remains one of the most talked-about royal conversations in recent years.Image credit (Instagram)
Oprah Winfrey’s iconic ‘silent or silenced’ question went viralOprah memorably replied with a clarifying question that would define the interview: “Were you silent or were you silenced?” The exchange became one of the most quoted and discussed moments from the interview, resonating with audiences worldwide and sparking significant conversation about Meghan’s experience within the royal family. “The latter,” Meghan answered, confirming her belief that she had been prevented from speaking rather than choosing silence.Winfrey mimicked the hand gesture she made while asking the pointed question. “I don’t know where the hell that came from. I don’t think I’ve done it since,” she admitted with a laugh. She then reflected on why she asked Meghan to clarify her statement in the moment. “I wanted to be clear, because was she silenced? Were people telling her not to talk?” Winfrey explained. “I said it for clarification, because I didn’t want later to hear, ‘Well, no, it wasn’t that. It really was that I was silenced. They wouldn’t let me talk.’ So it was all for clarification.” Her explanation demonstrated her journalistic instincts and desire to ensure accuracy and clarity in the historical record of the conversation.
Oprah Winfrey looked back on the question that became one of the defining moments of her 2021 interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.Image credit (Instagram)
OprahWinfrey explains her approach to the 2021 interview“They didn’t know, obviously, anything that I was going to ask them, but I had said to them ahead of time, ‘I’m going to try to cover everything,'” Winfrey recalled about her preparation for the interview. “This interview took three and a half hours. And as is always the case for me, I want it to be a win-win for you. So I was just trying to carefully go through everything that had come up in the past.” Her comments highlighted the intentional and thoughtful approach she took to the conversation with the couple, setting the stage for the candid revelations that would follow.The coastal town of Montecito, where Harry, 41, and Meghan, 44, were now neighbours with Winfrey, 72, had been the setting for the landmark interview in which the couple got candid about their reasons for leaving royal life behind.
Other bombshell moments and ongoing royal family tensions
Other bombshell moments in the interview had included the couple’s revelation that there had been “concerns and conversations” within the royal family about the birth of their first child, Prince Archie, and how dark his skin colour might be. The 2021 interview also hinted at the rift between Prince Harry and his brother, Prince William, that continued to this day. More than five years later, the brothers remained not in any communication, though recent visits from Harry to the United Kingdom marked the first steps toward reconciliation with King Charles, with sources noting that “the relationship is better” between the father and son.
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