Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were 'bruised and vulnerable' during interview, reporter says

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were clearly "bruised and vulnerable" at the time of their viral "Harry & Meghan: An African Journey" interview, says ITV anchor Tom Bradby, who spent time with the royal couple during their 10-day tour of Africa.

In a new interview that aired on "Good Morning America" on Wednesday morning ahead of the documentary's US premiere, Bradby shed light on his approach to his high-profile interviews with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, sharing telling details from behind the scenes.

"I knew that everything wasn't entirely rosy behind the scenes, but all the same, I had intended to turn up doing a more conventional journalistic job, maybe. I knew beforehand I was going to have to put some pretty pointed questions, but the reality I found was just a couple that seemed a bit bruised and vulnerable," he explained. "That was the story I found, and it seemed the right journalistic thing to do to try to tell that story as empathetically as I could."

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Bradby said that during his time with the couple, he had several "private heart-to-hearts" with Harry specifically, which he walked away from feeling as though the royal was completely truthful with him, perhaps even to a fault.

"I would say one thing abut Harry: He's always been one of those people, if you ask him an honest question in private or public, he'll intend to give you an honest answer for better or worse," he explained.

While he noted in his "GMA" interview that "things weren't going in a very good direction" between Harry, Meghan and the international media (The couple announced during their trip that they're actually taking legal action against several British tabloids who they believe have overstepped in their reporting on them.), he did recommend that "everyone takes a deep breath just to give them a little bit of space."

Harry, Meghan and their son, Archie, will get that space very soon, as they announced that they will take six weeks off around the holidays for family time, with some reports saying that they plan on spending Thanksgiving in Los Angeles with Meghan's mom, Doria Ragland.

As for Harry's revelations about he and brother Prince William being on "different paths" and having their "good days" and "bad days" as brothers, Bradby believes that whatever differences that the famously close brothers have had in recent years come down to their diverging approaches to dealing with the media.

"William is taking a more traditional approach," he said. "Harry and Meghan have just decided to play things very differently."

SEE ALSO: Meghan Markle reveals she was warned not to marry Prince Harry

Adding fuel to their fickle relationships with the media is, of course, the death of their mother, Princess Diana. The so-called People's Princess died in a car accident in Paris on August 31, 1997 while being chased by the paparazzi, and her sons have taken different viewpoints on the tragic incident.

"The real difficulty is they just almost have two entirely parallel narratives about a whole bunch of stuff, one of which actually is about their mother's death. Harry feels the press quite simply killed his mother and is now in danger of now trying to damage his wife," Bradby explained. "William has a more nuanced view of that. He thinks that, yes, their mother did have a very hard time, but also that she made a mistake in letting the press in and he just is absolutely adamant that that shouldn't happen, and he thinks that his brother is sometimes too open, and then sometimes tries to close up and that just doesn't work. So there's two completely different narratives on that."

"Harry & Meghan: An African Journey" premieres in the U.S. on Wednesday, October 23, only on ABC at 10 p.m. EST