The kids really don’t know, but Oprah really is one of the most impactful people of the past fifty years. Oprah participated in Vanity Fair’s “Rewatch” video series, and they only managed to fit in a handful of her biggest moments, all while Oprah talked about what was happening behind-the-scenes of this or that. She rewatched the “you get a car” moment on her show, she rewatched the male-survivors episode, she rewatched scenes from The Color Purple. Honestly, this video could have been three hours long and I would have watched it all. The part that’s getting the most attention? Around the 15-minute mark, she rewatches a clip from her 2021 interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Remember, at first Oprah was only supposed to interview Meghan, then we learned that Prince Harry hopped into a chair and spilled to Oprah as well. I’ve queued it to the Sussex interview section:
Wait, did we know that Oprah interviewed them for three-and-a-half hours?? Release the Oprah Cut!! Oprah analyzed the infamous “were you silent, or were you silenced?” moment, which has been a meme since it happened. Oprah says that she asked that question “for clarification.” She then told a long-winded story about how she learned that, for her, she just needs to stay inside her house and never go out in public if she wants privacy: “If you don’t want to be bothered, stay home…that has been my approach. Very different though, I think, than being royalty or being a movie star.” My guess is that Oprah’s full comments were more nuanced but VF cut it to make it sound like she was telling Harry and Meghan to never leave their house. If that’s what she meant, it’s kind of an absurd suggestion. Oprah’s not really an absurd person, which is why I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt.
The Daily Mail has a story about Oprah “backpedaling.” Was she? No. The Mail also quoted Derangers who are magically still complaining about how Oprah didn’t ask the Sussexes “hard questions.” It makes sense that Derangers are still steaming about the interview since the Windsors themselves have seemingly never recovered. To this day, courtiers still cite the Oprah interview as one of the “reasons” why the Sussexes will never be “forgiven.”
Screencaps courtesy of Vanity Fair video and Harpo/CBS.
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- Amanda Gorman recites poetry after United States President Joe Biden took the Oath of Office as the 46th President of the US at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on Wednesday, January 20, 2021.,Image: 584962111, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: usage worldwide, Model Release: no, Credit line: Chris Kleponis – CNP / DPA Picture Alliance / Avalon
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- Amanda Gorman recites poetry after United States President Joe Biden took the Oath of Office as the 46th President of the US at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on Wednesday, January 20, 2021.,Image: 584962111, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: usage worldwide, Model Release: no, Credit line: Chris Kleponis – CNP / DPA Picture Alliance / Avalon
21 Responses to “Oprah ‘rewatches’ her 2021 interview with Prince Harry & Meghan for Vanity Fair”
It’s been five years!? Time for a rewatch since the only thing I really remember is the controversy over Windsor racism. All the hit dogs were howling.
From the quote that’s included here it doesn’t even sound like she’s saying that. It’s immediately followed by, but that’s different for movie stars or royalty. So basically I stay in my house because it’s best for me, but it’s different for different people. Which of course is true.
I don’t think she’s back pedaling. I think that the British media is just going to take whatever they can to reinforce their current narrative which is, Harry and Meghan should never give interviews and never be out the house. And everyone would be happy if they were doing that.
Even though British newspapers literally had a front page article in 2024 asking why Meghan hadn’t been seen in public for over 100 days. They want them out and about, they just want them out and about saying approved palace talking points.
I know this is true, because there was literally an article the other day saying how ” scary” it was that Harry was on a podcast and James Corden’s show and talking to reporters at Time 100 because, who knows what he could say?!!!
Lol, who knows what Harry could say? Well, he’s kind of said it already, hasn’t he? Or has he? They seem to be waiting for another shoe to drop. I love it.
Harry should keep them guessing. Keep them wondering. It’s a big defense for him because there’s obviously sooooo much more they could have said. He should keep the sword of Damocles hanging over their miserable little (royal) heads.
Let them wonder what the Sussexes might say next…
She also isn’t raising children as a famous person. that makes a big difference because without kids, you can hide out a lot more and maybe she can go a week without leaving her house (she also doesn’t have to go grocery shopping or anything like that.)
But I also think the line about “not being bothered” means more that you have to expect fan attention (so dont get mad if someone wants your autograph) so when she’s not in the mood to be “nice” to the public, she just stays home. To me that could be aimed at a lot of celebrities.
So yeah I dont see this as saying that “Harry and Meghan should never leave their house” because that’s silly. More just that when you’re famous and you do leave your house, people are going to approach you, etc. And its harder when you’re royalty like they are because you can’t do anything without it being dissected in the daily mail for years on end.
Yeah, I hope she wasn’t saying if you want privacy just stay home. It’s interesting though bc it’s like a no win situation. If you want privacy, become a cave dwelling hermit, but if you want to go out in the world, you’re perceived as an attention seeker that only wants clout and thus doesn’t deserve privacy.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Oprah who? I thought the royals and the royal rota had scarcely learned about Oprah at the time of the interview? I remember some nonsense about her “clout-chasing” the royals through Harry and Meghan when this interview happened. Well, seems they have finally figured out Oprah is a big deal! Congrats, guys.
Now why the royalist media apparently wants everyone to rewatch an interview that puts the royals in such a bad light is a mystery to me.
True story, I never watched the interview, because I felt like I already had the whole story effectively piped into my subconscious for years whilst we were subjected to ranting and screeching tabloid coverage. Some part of your brain that remains lucid, involuntarily pipes up, “But wasn’t it the other way round?” ….every time they come up with some new horrible headline. It’s the counterfactual society. Opposite Day.
I never saw the interview either. Oprah is certainly one of the best in the business but I was struggling with extreme pandemic issues and celebrity gossip was not a salve. Oprah’s shopping anecdote/privacy statement seems out of context but this is true for 99% of H&M tabloid coverage. Anyone who remains upset over a 2021 interview is choosing to hold on to that anger and no amount of explanation or reflection will change that.
This wasn’t supposed to be just a Meghan interview. It was always going to be a joint interview, but they broke it up to interview Meghan first likely because she was the main one who was (and still is) being attacked for decisions they both made. Oprah had also been talking to Meghan about her experiences in the royal bubble prior to the wedding so it was almost a way of starting from the beginning of their relationship and where her new life experience in royal life began. Her quote about “We’re you silent, or were you silenced?” was as Oprah said, about “clarification” because just before she asked that question, Meghan said that she “was silent” and there obviously needed to be “clarification” of whether it was by her own choice or was she put in a situation where she was made to be silent. Oprah is the best there is as far as interviews, so obviously a real journalist would seek clarification in that moment. Oprah’s comment about staying inside was her describing her own personal experience with being hounded and she very clearly says that “it’s very different I think than being royalty or a movie star”. She makes it very clear that she wasn’t suggesting that approach for people who are royals, like Harry and Meghan are or for movie stars. It unfortunately isn’t the best approach for anyone who is well known, a celebrity, movie star or royal because no one should ever feel forced to limit themselves in any capacity to appease others, even when it comes to going outside and living life. I do remember that this interview took three and a half hours and that Oprah had said that they had edited it to make it shorter. I also remember some people in the UK mentioning how there were some parts that they didn’t see and I wondered if there were parts that were intentionally edited out to protect the left behind royals and to damage Harry and Meghan.
The stay home comment seems to be creating to creating a narrative bridge to the cold play affair interview where the woman is being harassed in her home and no longer feels safe there.
Whatever. The main reasons why the royalists are still upset about the Oprah interview is Meghan got to tell her side of the story and she debunked the Meghan made Kate cry story. They would have much preferred that she hadn’t spoken out so they could maintain their deluded fantasy about royal life.
Agreed 💯 @Amy Bee. Feminegra also concluded same.
Claims that Oprah now regrets the interview are difficult to sustain. She revisited it calmly, explained her approach and treated it as an important part of her broadcasting history. The interview remains controversial because it disrupted a system built on anonymous briefings, controlled silence and the assumption that Meghan would never be allowed to answer back.
She also debunked the title issue – remember how many of us on here (raises hand) thought that Archie didn’t have the Prince title at birth bc H&M didn’t want him to have one? I had assumed that if they wanted him to have one, QEII would have issued new LPs making him HRH Prince from birth (like she did with William’s children), since he would be HRH Prince sooner rather than later anyway when Charles became king. and Meghan clarified that was not the case and that they wanted to change it so he would NEVER be Prince.
I’m glad she made that clear because so many say “Meghan just doesn’t know how it works” when they were CLEARLY trying to take it away from him full stop, not just until Charles was king.
The thing is, when it comes to the kids, M+H largely do just stay home. We don’t see their faces, we don’t get a whole lot of updates about them, etc. I am sure they go to public places but the paparazzi are clearly not being alerted because there are so rarely photos. M+H have jobs that require a certain amount of being public (sort of like Oprah!) but that’s different than putting all your personal life on display.
This is a really good distinction, and ITA. It also bugs me when people are like “they said they wanted privacy!” No, they said they didn’t want to be abused by the press. That’s not at all the same thing. They’ve always planned to be be public figures (which again is not the same as living a public life).
There is a fantastic clip which was oddly NOT included in the broadcast but which was released online, in which Meghan calmly explained the meaning of privacy. Now would be a good time for Oprah to “hit back” at the backpedalling nonsense by publicising that bit.
Because Meghan correctly pointed out that just because she showed you one picture on her phone doesn’t mean that you then get the right to demand to take her phone and scroll through all of her other photos (if I recall the analogy correctly). That’s the gist of it at any rate. And she said this while pointing out that they never demanded privacy, only fair treatment.
And yes, I did know that the official broadcast was only about a third of the available footage from their interview. I think Oprah said as much, in an interview with Gayle?
Right! She went on to say “okay now that you’ve shown me this one picture you’ve given up all rights to privacy, so now I get to see all your pictures, I’m going to send a drone into your backyard to look in your child’s window, because you showed me that one picture.” (well not a direct quote lol but close.) But the drone thing was so clear because that has obviously happened to them.
Oprah has been a little problematic for a bit. Not sure if she’s bored, but she’s been rehashing/saying some things that maybe she shouldn’t. Her comments about Whitney Houston falling off the stage, as an example. I know she got asked, but she’s friggin Oprah. She could’ve said “no, pick another clip.” Or give an unequivocally supportive answer that couldn’t be twisted.
I know it will probably never happen but I would love to read Meghan’s memoirs and when the penny dropped about Jason Knauf? What does she really think about the big four in RF? How does she really feel about her father going endlessly rogue on her and her mom? Cosying up to her biggest detractors for years? Piers claiming to be her friend!? Kate lunging at her in public? How did she cope? What apart from Harry and her mom and her kids gave her strength? Who helped them in 202O and has stayed loyal since?. How does she feel looking back? Would she do it again? Would it have been better for them if Charles and William had been entirely honest with Harry and Meghan and explained he would immediately stop working for RF if he married Meghan and be free to make his own money independent of them abroad with their blessings?
No it wouldn’t have been fair but at least it would have been honest if both explained that Harry was either not to marry at all or if he did to a dull, drip as they couldn’t risk being outshone .
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