The daily beast

Only Oprah could have nailed the bombshell interview with Harry and Meghan

The GettyAny interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry would be particularly juicy at this stage of their royal exodus and in the midst of such a treacherous tabloid vortex. But only Oprah Winfrey could have produced what we saw on CBS Sunday night: A. Generation defining interview. A global event. Blockbuster television. But more importantly, actual substance; Finally, in the storm of the ever-churning royal rumor mill, the exposure of real people and through them perseverance and rudeness. In this context, think of Winfrey’s interview as a long-awaited wrecking ball through the palace walls. Yes, especially the fact that it was a party of epic proportions delivered to a rabid audience for a sip on it all. Early ratings, released Monday morning, drew 17.1 million viewers on CBS, a size frankly never seen again. It even managed to beat Caitlyn Jenner’s interview with Diane Sawyer in 2015, which hit an average of 16.9 million viewers at a time when such numbers weren’t that rare. Let’s call it the power of Oprah. Could you imagine another broadcaster doing this type of interview? There’s a version where the Sunday night gig took place in a doll-filled sketch comedy or in the back seat of a car tricked into karaoke, with one of the late nights hosts helping with image rehab through their usual shallow mania. Or they danced to a chair across from a TV presenter during the day and talked harmlessly for 10 minutes about the need for kindness without putting the necessary focus on the increased corruption of the “institution” as Meghan and Harry repeatedly referred to It is hard to imagine that any of the other respected journalists on network television would be able to display the kind of authenticity that condition, even train, to shield such famous people as Meghan and Harry. The combination of Winfrey’s fame and her immediate intimacy is an unrivaled tool in such cases. She uses her status as one of the most famous people in the world to ask the questions that no other person can ask, or at least that is justified. But because she is Oprah, with her track record behind her, and knowing that she has your best interest in it, no matter how vulnerable the answer may make you, “Blindsided the Queen” would come out as a donkey, for example. But Winfrey made it seem the most natural question in the world – because it feels natural to her that she should ask it. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Oprah interview was a deep indictment of the royal family, which is their element, which she has performed flawlessly for decades. In this area she is the queen. Just like so many years when she hosted the Oprah Winfrey Show, watching her reign is a thrill. When Meghan and Harry exploded throughout their sitting Sunday after the bomb was revealed, social media and friends and family exploded group text chains in-kind. In the reports that Meghan made Kate cry over flower girl dresses, Meghan confirms, “Actually, the opposite happened,” a microphone whose bang still reverberates around the world. According to Harry 17.1 million thumb pairs had to work diligently to translate the quote in a capital letter shock onto their timelines and text windows: “Before he stopped taking my calls?!?!?! “The future king, as callous and wild as the proverbial ex who once haunted you. But focusing on the eye-catching details is a downside to the depth Winfrey worked so masterfully to uncover. She performed some sort of dance with the couple that ensured they did an important interview that went beyond a war of words played out on tabloids when the palace rejected their own retribution charges. Harry and Meghan’s story was a romanticized one beyond the point of reality. And since then it has been so overshadowed by the hideousness of a press armed by its rotting connection to the “institution” that every statement by the ex-royals runs the risk of being reduced to clickbait, misinterpreted or bastardized. You could see Winfrey striving to avoid this inevitability by using what she’s been a great television interviewer: her empathy. It can get emotional without losing its authority. In fact, emotion gives it authority. Your interviewees feel safe sharing their emotions and truths because they feel like they feel these things next to you – that they feel for you – and that the catharsis of all of that feeling is the priority over any reviews or headlines, too the achievement of which the revelations can help. When Markle revealed that she had suicidal thoughts while pregnant with Archie, Winfrey was visibly upset. She took a moment to apologize to Meghan for experiencing this; again she felt for her. And it allowed her to delve deeper into that conversation, leading to the discussion of what it takes to admit that you need help and the shocking revelation that the “institution” would not allow her to receive it . Meghan Markle spoke powerfully about racism. Black women heard and knew their pain. Winfrey extended Markle’s kindness of emotion – humanity – and this led to what is possibly the most momentous revelation since Diana’s famous interview decades ago about the royal family and their antiquated, harmful priorities. Then there is the Oprah “WHAT !?” It was spontaneous that now. GIF and meme reaction shot of Winfrey pulling back in disbelief when Markle said at least one member of the royal family had concerns about how dark the skin of the couple’s children would be. The dramatic reflex only reflected what we thought we were back home, but as a television it was monumental. One of the world’s most famous black women responded with empathy to another of the world’s most famous black women, a lightning-fast moment that sparked open conversation about racism. Family, do you know what kind of tea you have? after all the interviews she’s had over the decades, getting that kind of reaction from Oprah? #HarryandMeghanonOprah pic.twitter.com/P70GiI5jPh – April (@ReignOfApril) March 8, 2021 Winfrey didn’t rush that part of the conversation and has come back to it several times, including when Harry came over to them. Not only does a good interviewer clock money quotes and headlines as they navigate through a conversation, but they also provide an opportunity to unlock something new about a person by pushing further and deeper. When you reveal something deeply exciting, you want the person you are talking to to respond appropriately – to do the Oprah “WHAT ?!” There was a version of the interview on Sunday evening, feared by some skeptics, in which three famous friends set up a megaphone on the couple’s topics of conversation in response to attacks against them. But “she didn’t deliver warm bathos or easy platitudes,” as my colleague Tim Teeman wrote in his review of the special. “She interviewed with care and accuracy. Every time Meghan or Harry waffled or said something inaccurate, she asked them to be specific – especially when it came to identifying the racists or racists in the palace who humiliated Meghan and asked how dark Archie’s skin would be, when he was born. “It is this type of questioning that Harry and Meghan end up being most frankly about their experiences, their frustrations about how the family has treated them, and their horror at the system from which they had no choice but to flee, evoked. This could have stopped as a soundbite. It is now a TV moment that has the potential to trigger cultural change. Even when they refused to specifically name the family member who raised the skin color issue, they said so much more. (“I think that would be very detrimental to her …” I yelled.) High profile interviews like this are a juggling act of the agendas. There is no question that Harry and Meghan had theirs, and they did it as many times as they probably irritated their fiercest critics, who in the comments during the interview are still fodder for their attacks on “privilege” and “ingratitude.” “Find the couple. And Oprah and CBS undoubtedly had theirs. But I think this was the rare case where even the teasers for the interview didn’t do justice to the depth and breadth of the revelations that resulted. I loved how keen it was that when she’s serving these interviews, she rarely misses Winfrey. It would take too long to record their story of flawlessness in the genre, from Tom Cruise and Whitney Houston to the Jackson family to Jackson’s accusers. She is a maestro who creates her own symphony of “hmms”, head tilts and the slightest nod until she lulls her motive to deliver unfiltered versions of herself, whether they go there willingly or defiantly. And as a consummate TV professional, she knows when to produce her own highlights and crescendos. Case in point is the tremendous conveyance of this question, “Have you been silent or have you been silenced?” It is wild to believe that Winfrey conducted large interviews on the scale of this interview several times a year. They came between countless others, measured in smaller numbers on the Richter scale, but just as fascinating to see. There’s such a difference between the overall interview, the way this was it, and the damage control efforts that the genre has transformed in recent years. What I wouldn’t give to normalize tell-all again – and maybe they will be too. The power of Oprah. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside delves deeper into the stories that matter to you. Learn more.