Oprah Winfrey is facing a wave of royal criticism from supporters after she clarified asking Meghan Markle whether she had been “silenced” by the Royal Family.
The TV mogul revisited her landmark 2021 sit-down with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for Vanity Fair’s Scene Selection programme, appearing to defend her approach during the conversation, insisting “it was all for clarification”.
Viewers on X accused the veteran American broadcaster of attempting to distance herself from the explosive interview, which was conducted in Montecito and aired on CBS on 7 March 2021.
Many questioned why she had failed to probe any of the couple’s more contentious allegations at the time.
“Oh, Oprah… you don’t get to rewrite history five years later,” one user wrote online.
A second accused Mrs Winfrey of looking to “backpedal with trying to rewrite the history on this interview”.
The three-and-a-half-hour session, widely regarded as having sent shockwaves through the monarchy, notably lacked any rigorous interrogation of the Sussexes’ serious claims, which also stoked fire in the stomachs of royal fans.
“Couldn’t you ask follow-ups to clarify they’re curious about the baby’s skin colour vs it being racism? Isn’t that critical clip to clarify?” one user asked.
Mrs Winfrey explained that she posed the now-infamous “were you silent or were you silenced?” question because she wanted absolute clarity.
“I didn’t want, later, to hear ‘Well no, it wasn’t that. It really was that I was silenced.’ So it was all for clarification,” she told the outlet.
Social media users were far from persuaded. Several dismissed her reasoning as “meaningless word salad,” while others noted she appeared visibly uneasy whilst rewatching the footage.
Another observed that it was “a bad look” for the presenter to be offering explanations half a decade after the original broadcast.
The original interview, conducted shortly after the couple stepped back from senior royal duties, proved seismic for the institution. A pregnant Meghan alleged that “concerns” had been raised within the Palace regarding the skin colour of their son Archie.
“I’ve always been outspoken, especially about women’s rights,” Meghan said in the interview.
“I mean, that’s the sad irony of the last four years is that I’ve advocated for so long for women to use their voice.
“And then… I was silent”
Oprah then questioned whether the duchess was “silent, or silenced”, to which Meghan replied: “The latter.”
Mrs Winfrey, who attended the Sussexes’ 2018 Windsor wedding, had publicly declared she supported the couple “1,000 per cent” in their departure from Britain back in 2020.
Poignantly, Mrs Winfrey’s Vanity Fair appearance comes just days after Buckingham Palace confirmed that King Charles and Queen Camilla hosted Prince Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lilibet at Highgrove House — the first time the Duchess and children had seen the 77-year-old monarch in person since 2022.
