“I was sitting in Nottingham cottage and The Little Mermaid came on. And who as an adult really watches The Little Mermaid? But it came on and I was like, ‘Well I’m here all the time, I might as well watch this,’” she recalled. “And I went, ‘Oh my God. She falls in love with the prince and because of that she loses her voice!’ But in the end, she gets her voice back.” In the Disney classic, 16-year-old Ariel makes a deal with the sea witch Ursula to trade her voice for legs to be able to be with Prince Eric on dry land. Markle said there was an irony in losing her own voice after spending years advocating for women to use their own voices. The former Suits actress said it was a relief to finally be able to speak her truth now that she is no longer a working royal. “As an adult who lived a really independent life to then go into this construct that is, um, different than what I think people imagine it to be, it’s really liberating to have the right and the privilege in some ways to be able to say, ‘Yes, I’m ready to talk,’” she said. “To be able to make a choice on your own and just speak for yourself.” Markle says she was frustrated by not being able to speak out publicly when false stories were planted about her in the press, especially rumors that she made Kate Middletoncry. Meghan says the reverse actually happened and that Duchess Kate actually made her cry, but that Kate apologized for it and sent her flowers and a note and that all was forgiven. “Six, seven months after our wedding that the reverse of that would be out in the world? I would have never wanted that to come out about her, even though it happened. A few days before the wedding she was upset about something pertaining to the flower girl dresses, and it made me cry and it really hurt my feelings. And I thought in the context of everything else it didn’t make sense to not do what everyone else was doing, which was being supportive,” she said. “It wasn’t a confrontation, and I don’t think it’s fair to her to get into the details of that because she apologized and I forgave her for that.” She added that “The Institution” overall was stifling and “perpetuated falsehoods” about her and Prince Harryand never corrected false stories about them in the media. “Everyone in my world was given clear directive since Harry and I started dating to always say ‘no comment,’” she lamented. “It was only once we were married and everything sort of started to worsen that I realized I wasn’t being protected, but that they were willing to lie to protect other members of the family but not tell the truth to protect me and my husband.” To protect their mental health, Duchess Meghan and Harry left their roles as senior royals. They now live in Montecito, California, near Winfrey, and are expecting their second child. Winfrey asked the Duchess, “So your story with the prince does have a happy ending?” Meghan smiled and replied, “It does. Greater than any fairytale you’ve ever read.” Next, relive Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s fairytale 2018 royal wedding!
