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Oprah Winfrey has done many high-profile interviews over the years, but the one with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry remains one of the most memorable. Her iconic question, “Were you silent or silenced?” didn’t just get royal fans talking; it became a viral internet moment and even made its way into social media lingo. Now, Winfrey has finally shared what was going through her mind before asking the question.
In a new Vanity Fair video, Winfrey revisited some of her most memorable on-screen moments, including her bombshell 2021 sit-down with Markle and Harry. Naturally, the conversation turned to the moment she asked the Duchess whether she had been "silent" or "silenced" during her time as a working royal.
During the video, Winfrey watched back the iconic clip with Markle. The Suits actress had just opened up about always encouraging women to speak up before revealing that, after marrying into the royal family, "I was silent." Winfrey then jumped in with the question that quickly defined the interview: "Were you silent or were you silenced?" Markle simply replied, "The latter."
Watching it back, Winfrey laughed at her own reaction, even recreating the zipped-lip gesture she made before stressing the word "silenced." "I don't know where the hell that came from," she admitted with a laugh.
The TV icon then explained that the question was never meant to be dramatic; she simply wanted to understand exactly what Markle meant. She said, “I wanted to be clear, because was she silenced? Were people telling her not to talk? That’s why I said [that].”
Winfrey added that she wanted to make sure there was no misunderstanding about what Markle was trying to convey: “I said it for clarification, because I didn’t want later to hear, ‘Well no, it wasn’t that, it was really that I was silenced. They wouldn’t let me talk.’ So it was all for clarification.”
Winfrey also shared, “My favourite moment in any interview is when either a person says it out loud—'I never thought of it that way before,’” she explained, “or you can see in their eyes something just happened, and they never thought of it this way before.”
The veteran host also revealed a few behind-the-scenes details about the headline-making interview, revealing that it had to be postponed three times before it finally happened. She added that the full conversation lasted more than three and a half hours, though only a portion of it made it to air.
Read more at The Royal Observer.
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