Meghan Markle’s dad believes Oprah is taking advantage of Prince Harry
"For one, I think Oprah Winfrey is playing Harry and Meghan," the 76-year-old Markle said.
Meghan Markle may not be taking her estranged father’s calls, but that certainly hasn’t stopped Thomas Markle from not only doing interviews but also making some pretty alarming allegations against Oprah Winfrey.
Over the weekend Markle – a former Hollywood lighting director – appeared on Australia’s “60 Minutes, and revealed that he believes Winfrey is taking advantage of both his daughter and his son-in-law Prince Harry.
“For one, I think Oprah Winfrey is playing Harry and Meghan,” the 76-year-old said in a clip from the interview. “I think she’s using them to build her network and build her new shows and I think she’s taking advantage of a very weakened man and getting him to say things that you just shouldn’t be saying on television.”
On May 21st, Harry and Winfrey’s new mental health series The Me You Can’t See premiered on Apple+. The show features incredibly candid interviews with the Prince, other celebrities and everyday people who all share how they’re working to overcome their personal struggles.
“We are born into different lives, brought up in different environments, and as a result are exposed to different experiences. But our shared experience is that we are all human,” Harry said in a statement about the show. “The majority of us carry some form of unresolved trauma, loss, or grief, which feels—and is—very personal. Yet the last year has shown us that we are all in this together, and my hope is that this series will show there is power in vulnerability, connection in empathy, and strength in honesty.”
In March, Harry announced he was joining BetterUp, Inc., a mental health coaching startup as its ‘chief impact officer’. That same month he and wife Markle opened up to Oprah about their own issues with mental health. Meghan said that the treatment from the British royal family left her feeling suicidal but she was not allowed to seek treatment. Harry has revealed that his mother Princess Diana‘s death in 1997 when he was 12 affected him to the point he sought treatment in later years.
While the couple has gotten much praise for bringing discussions about mental health to an international audience, Markle’s father believes this is all a ruse orchestrated by Winfrey. In his opinion, the talk show maven is “building back” her network and is manipulating his son-in-law into getting her ratings.
“I think it’s a setup,” he said in his latest interview. “I think she’s patting herself on the back and making a lot of money from this.”
He added: “I think Harry is being put in a position where he’s saying things he’ll never be able to take back. That’s a horrible thing.”
“Everything they’re doing right now seems to be going against public opinion,” Thomas alleged while speaking about their highly publicized CBS interview with Winfrey. “The only person benefiting from this is Oprah Winfrey.”
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
