Meghan Markle’s Oprah interview: Duchess tells host it’s ‘liberating’ to ‘make our own choices’

CBS has released another teaser for Oprah Winfrey’s interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, which will air on Sunday night, US time.

In the two-minute clip, which was revealed on CBS This Morning, Meghan Markle tells Oprah it is “liberating” to be able to make her own choices and speak for herself, freed from the restrictive rules of the royal family.

“So, I just want to say that I called you, either February or March of 2018, before the wedding asking, ‘Would you please give me an interview?’ And you said, ‘I’m sorry, it’s not the right time,” Oprah says.

“Mhmm,” says Meghan.

“And finally, we get to sit down and have this conversation,” Oprah adds.“I remember that conversation very well. I wasn’t even allowed to have that conversation with you, personally. There had to be people sitting there,” Meghan recalls.

“There were other people in the room when we had that conversation. You turned me down nicely, and said, ‘Perhaps there’ll be another time, when there’s the right time.’ What is right about this time?” Oprah asks.

“Umm ... well, so many things,” the Duchess replies after a long pause.

“That we’re on the other side of a lot of life experience that’s happened, 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.

“So, as an adult who lived a really independent life, to then go into this construct that is different than what I think people imagine it to be, 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.’

“To say it for yourself. To be able to just make a choice on your own and to just be able to speak for yourself.”

RELATED: What Meghan will reveal to Oprah
 

#EXCLUSIVE: In this extended first clip from @Oprah's interview with Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex says what it means to be able to speak for herself.

It comes one year after the couple left England and stepped back from full-time royal life.#OprahMeghanHarry pic.twitter.com/o3AdxpmLrh

— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) March 5, 2021

Relations between the Sussexes and Buckingham Palace deteriorated further this week after the Palace announced its HR team would investigate allegations that Meghan bullied her staff during her time in the United Kingdom.

The decision followed a news article, published in The Times, which reported Meghan’s behaviour was so bad it had driven two personal assistants out of the royal household.

Sources told the newspaper staff were “reduced to tears”, “bullied” and “personally humiliated” by the Duchess’s “emotional cruelty and manipulation”.

They also complained that the institution “protected Meghan constantly” instead of protecting the members of staff.

Harry and Meghan responded to the Palace’s announcement by accusing it of using the press to “peddle a wholly false narrative”.

“Let’s just call this what it is: a calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation,” a spokesperson for the couple said.

“It’s no coincidence that distorted several-year-old accusations aimed at undermining the Duchess are being briefed to the British media shortly before she and the Duke are due to speak openly and honestly about their experience.

“The Duchess is saddened by this latest attack on her character, particularly as someone who has been the target of bullying herself and is deeply committed to supporting those who have experienced pain and trauma.”

RELATED: Meghan faces bombshell bullying claims
 

Meghan’s friends have also come out to defend her in recent days.

“I have known Meghan for 17 years. Here’s what she is: kind, strong, open. Here’s what she’s not: a bully,” said actress Janina Gavankar.

“Any of us who know her feel the same thing from her broken silence: relief. The truth shall set you free.”

Fellow actress Jameela Jamil questioned why the bullying allegations had emerged days before the Sussexes’ interview with Oprah.

“So lemme just get this straight. The Palace were fine with all of Meghan’s ‘bullying’ for years and years until a few days before they fear she may out them publicly,” she said.

“Seems like a legit claim.”

Meghan’s best friend from college, Lindsay Roth, wrote a lengthy post defending her.

“Meg’s M.O. has always been kindness; goodwill runs in her bones,” she said.

“I know this to be true after 22 years of very close friendship. I have seen first-hand how she treats her friends and their families, and her colleagues.

“If you ever have the pleasure of meeting Meg – and I hope more of you do – you will see the altruistic, magnanimous friend who I am so lucky to have in my corner.”

RELATED: Meghan’s friends leap to her defence
 

Meanwhile, more details have emerged describing the Duchess’s alleged behaviour.

Among them: that Meghan had rows with her staff when she was told keeping free clothes sent by designer fashion labels was against royal protocol; that she blew up at a member of her entourage during a trip to Fiji, leaving the staff member “highly distressed” with “tears running down her face”; and that when Meghan’s treatment of her aides was raised with her, she replied that it was not her job to “coddle people”.

In Australia, the interview with Oprah will air at 7:30pm on Monday, on Channel 10.