Even Oprah Was Surprised Meghan Markle 'Went All the Way There' in That Interview

Oprah Winfrey opened up about her controversial interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, saying she was just as surprised as everyone else at how far Meghan was willing to go with accusations of racism.

During her CBS Primetime Special that aired on March 7, Oprah asked Harry and Meghan about leaving their royal duties. Meghan said someone in the royal family — not Queen Elizabeth II or Prince Philip, who has since died — worried about how dark Meghan and Harry's son Archie's skin would be when he was born, among other bombshell revelations that shook the royal family and divided international opinion.

Speaking in an in-depth interview for the launch of The Nancy O'Dell Channel on talkshoplive, Oprah said of the sit-down, "I had no idea that it would have the reverberating impact that it has had and continues to have."

When O'Dell asked Oprah if she were surprised at just how open the couple was, Oprah admitted, "I... was I?... Yeah, I was surprised."

Oprah also referenced the meme of her shocked reaction that emerged from the piece, saying it reflected her feeling in the moment of, "What? I'm like... what? You're going there? You're going all the way there?"

That the interview was so impactful was no mistake. "I did a lot of preparation for that," Oprah told Nancy. "It was really important to me that what we put out there in the world was put out into the world at the time that everybody could see it and that things didn't leak and that things weren't misconstrued before the actual interview happened."

She was adamant on her policy of no leaks.

"When we finished doing the interview — and that interview was three hours and 20 minutes, I think — I stood up and I said to the crew, 'Well, we all know what was said here and how important it is to have the trust of the people who just shared that, and so I'm hoping you all will not go out into the world and share what has happened here.'"

Nobody did!

Oprah also revealed she'd talked with Harry and Meghan in advance and ascertained that she and they had a "shared intention" — the truth.

Taking credit only for asking good questions, Oprah said, "What makes it powerful is when you have somebody else who is willing to be as open, as vulnerable, as truthful as they were... The reason the interview was what it was is because they answered the way they did."

The rest of Oprah's visit to The Nancy O'Dell Channel on talkshoplive included Oprah revealing that she had sent $15,000 cash gifts to everyone she could think of who she knew would not be working during the pandemic, and a deep dive into Oprah's new book with Bruce D. Perry, "What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing," an instant #1 bestseller that's out now.