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Meghan Markle Says It’s “Liberating” To Be Able To Speak Her Mind In Latest Clip From CBS’s Oprah Winfrey Interview

CBS has set the scene for its blockbuster Meghan Markle and Prince Harry interview by releasing the latest tease of the sit-down, in which the Duchess of Sussex says it feels “liberating” to be able to speak her truth since breaking with the royal family.

CBS This Morning carried an exclusive extended clip from the network’s Oprah with Meghan and Harry special on Friday morning. It precedes the main event on Sunday at 8PM, when Markle tells Oprah Winfrey about everything from stepping into life as a royal, marriage, motherhood, her philanthropic work, and how she is handling life under intense public pressure.

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In the clip, Winfrey reveals that she called her friend Markle in early 2018 to request an interview, but the Duchess had to turn down her overtures because she was deep in the machinery of the British royal family, which rarely grants wide-ranging interview requests.

“I wasn’t even allowed to have that conversation with you personally. There had to be people from the comms [team] sitting there,” Markle says in the clip, which looks to be the opening couple of minutes from the interview. Winfrey adds: “There were other people in the room when we were having that conversation… you turned me down nicely and said, ‘Perhaps there will be another time.'”

Winfrey then asks Markle: “What is right about this time?” The Duchess of Sussex replies: “So many things. That we’re on the other side of a lot of life experience that’s happened, and also that we have the ability to make our own choices in a way that I couldn’t have said ‘yes’ to you then. That wasn’t my choice to make.

“So as an adult who lived a really independent life, to then go into this construct that is different then I think what people imagine it to be. It’s really liberating to be able to have the right and the privilege, in some ways, to be able to say, ‘Yes, I’m ready to talk.’ To be able to just make a choice on your own and just be able to speak for yourself.”

Markle and Prince Harry have moved to California and stepped back from their royal duties, with the Winfrey interview (filmed last month) seen as a marker in their new lives as free agents. They have also signed lucrative deals with Netflix and Spotify, which will bear fruit over the coming months and years.

The CBS interview, which has been sold to more than 70 territories around the world, has created a media storm in the UK, where The Times Of London reported on evidence of alleged “bullying” behavior by Markle in 2018. The Sussexes denounced the story as a “smear campaign,” while Buckingham Palace announced it is launching an investigation into the claims.

Watch the full CBS This Morning clip below:

Oprah with Meghan and Harry airs from 8PM-10PM Sunday, March 7. The special is produced by Harpo Productions. Executive producers are Terry Wood and Tara Montgomery. Brian Piotrowicz is co-executive producer.

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