The 8 Biggest Revelations From Meghan Markle's New Interview: I'm "Still Healing"
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Four years after she married Prince Harry, and two years after the two made the decision to step back as senior royals, Duchess Meghan is finally getting settled into her life with her husband.
In a groundbreaking new interview with The Cut's Allison P. Davis, the Duchess of Sussex discussed everything from the couple's upcoming projects, to teaching their kids manners, to the troubles she had with the monarchy's restrictions on her life, to her deep love with Harry.
Ahead, read the biggest revelations.
Meghan is getting back her voice—and her Instagram.
"I'm getting back … on Instagram," Meghan excitedly told the outlet. During her time as a royal, Meghan's passport, Instagram with three million followers, acting career, lifestyle blog The Tig, and freedom to open her own mail were all things she had to hand over control of. In the years that followed, she came to learn those weren't the only things she'd have to sacrifice.
As a working royal, she was told to keep her opinions to herself and stick to the rules, she was brutally criticized by the media and not allowed to defend herself, she lost her relationship with her father due to coercion from the tabloids, and not long into the job, her mental health took a steep decline.
There are undeniable parallels to the life of Harry's late mother, Princess Diana, who, pressured by the restrictions the royal family put on her, began to suffer from mental distress and was cast out.
Meghan did not know it would get so dark, of course, but when it came time, before her wedding to Harry, to give up her identity for a royal one, she decided love was worth it. "It was a big adjustment—a huge adjustment to go from that kind of autonomy to a different life," she told the outlet.
Meghan talks red flags from her royal life.
Though her royal wedding was as dreamy and filled with love as expected, Meghan said doubts about the life she was leading with Harry in Frogmore Cottage began creeping in.
One issue in particular was when she and Harry welcomed son Archie and were not allowed to share photos of him with her loved ones—or anyone—until the Royal Rota approved. "There's literally a structure by which if you want to release photos of your child, as a member of the family, you first have to give them to the Royal Rota," she said. "Why would I give the very people that are calling my children the N-word a photo of my child before I can share it with the people that love my child?" she asked, still ruffled. "You tell me how that makes sense and then I'll play that game."
At that time, Meghan and Harry shared Instagram account @kensingtonroyal with Prince William and Duchess Kate. But after a while, they decided to start their own, @sussexroyal, which reached one million followers within six hours and which did not totally follow the Royal Rota rulebook.
Soon after, they made the decision to leave the monarchy, and they had to shut down their account because the royal title was no longer theirs to use.
Tyler Perry helped get Meghan and Harry to California.
Meghan told The Cut that it was filmmaker Tyler Perry, whom she'd never met before, who reached out to them to offer them a safe haven when the entire royal drama exploded. The Sussexes had been staying in a home in Vancouver Island, Canada, but when the COVID-19 pandemic started, there was talk that the Canada–U.S. border would close. At that point, the Don't Look Up star offered them one of his homes in Beverly Hills, complete with security detail, where they stuck out a big part of the lockdown, until finding their dream home in Montecito.
Meghan said they initially couldn't afford to move into their mansion because, "we didn't have jobs," but after signing a Netflix and Spotify deal, they made it work and bought it for $14.65 million. "We did everything we could to get this house," she said. "Because you walk in and go … Joy. And exhale. And calm. It's healing. You feel free."
Meghan recalls her first visit back to the United Kingdom after moving to California.
This June, the couple attended the celebration for Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee in London. It was her and Harry's first time appearing at a public event alongside the rest of the royal family since they'd left for California. While there, Meghan took the opportunity to pack up the rest of their belongings, which they had left at Frogmore Cottage.
"You go back and you open drawers and you’re like, 'Oh my gosh. This is what I was writing in my journal there? And here’s all my socks from this time?'" she said, adding that it was "surreal" to walk back into that part of her life.
It was also emotional to see it all from a different perspective, after essentially breaking ties with the royals for the sake of her and Harry's mental health. "It was bittersweet, you know? Knowing none of it had to be this way," Meghan said.
Meghan reveals she and Harry tried to stay in the royal family.
Meghan said she tried so hard to fit in. "I was an actress," she said. "My entire job was, 'Tell me where to stand. Tell me what to say. Tell me how to say it. Tell me what to wear, and I'll do it.' And I'll show up early, and I'll probably bake something for the crew."
But the U.K. press put her down from the start; Duchess Kate did, indeed, make her cry over flower girl dresses at her wedding; and there were racist whispers around the castle about Archie's skin color. Even then, Meghan said she and Harry tried to make things work with the institution and offered to move to basically any other commonwealth—Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, anywhere—and make their own money while still working for the Queen.
"Anything to just … because just by existing, we were upsetting the dynamic of the hierarchy. So we go, 'Okay, fine, let's get out of here. Happy to,'" she said, noting that a handful of princes, princesses, and dukes have done the very same. "That, for whatever reason, is not something that we were allowed to do, even though several other members of the family do that exact thing," she said.
Meghan talks about her and Harry's life today, and their new projects.
Now living in a sun-drenched Montecito home with their own pool and garden, where they pick fruits and vegetables every week, Meghan and Harry know they made the right decision in choosing their marriage over the British monarchy.
In the mornings, Harry plays polo with the Los Padres in Santa Barbara, and throughout the day, he and Meghan work together from their home office on their many projects for Archewell, a catchall company they launched in 2020. Most recently, they released Meghan's Spotify podcast, Archetypes, with a first episode starring Serena Williams. "It's so real," Meghan said of the podcast. "I feel different. I feel clearer. It's like I'm finding—not finding my voice. I’ve had my voice for a long time, but being able to use it."
A barefoot Harry briefly entered the interview to say how much he enjoys working and living with his wife. "Most people that I know and many of my family, they aren't able to work and live together," he said. "It's actually really weird because it'd seem like a lot of pressure. But it just feels natural and normal."
Meghan did not expand too much on their other upcoming projects, but she did say she's excited for people to know about their romance. "The piece of my life I haven't been able to share, that people haven't been able to see, is our love story," she said, then quoting what she said was the end of a speech she gave at her wedding, in which she took comfort in the "resounding knowing that, above all, love wins."
During her talk with The Cut, Meghan took a break with her interviewer to pick up Archie from school. She said she's very focused on teaching him and daughter Lilibet manners, and in doing so, she remembered something she'd learned at a young age from a friend's mom: Salt and pepper are always passed together. "She said, 'You never move one without the other.' That's me and Harry. We're like salt and pepper. We always move together."
Meghan says both she and Harry lost their fathers.
As a child, teen, and even adult actress, Meghan was incredibly close to her father, Thomas Markle, but as she entered the royal spotlight, things took a turn. The tabloids began focusing on Thomas's background and their relationship, and soon, Thomas himself was giving the publications material to publish—including a heartfelt letter from Meghan asking him to stop talking to the British press. (Meghan sued the tabloid for invasion of privacy and won.)
Thomas did not attend Meghan and Harry's wedding in 2018, and she has remained estranged from him since.
"Harry said to me, 'I lost my dad in this process.' It doesn’t have to be the same for them as it was for me, but that’s his decision," Meghan said, speaking of Prince Charles, who stopped taking Harry's calls when they decided to move to California to lead their own lives.
Meghan comments on if there's hope she and the royals will make peace.
"I think forgiveness is really important. It takes a lot more energy to not forgive," she said. "But it takes a lot of effort to forgive. I've really made an active effort, especially knowing that I can say anything."
Meghan added that she has never had to sign anything that restricts her from talking. "I can talk about my whole experience and make a choice not to," she said.
So why doesn't she? "Still healing," she admitted.
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