Starting a new life away from your family and friends is not very easy, even though you are a royal. Meghan Markle talked to The Cut about her new life with her family in California and how she and Prince Harry needed to adapt once they left the Royal Family.
Meghan also revealed why the couple decided to move to California and why she has kept control over their children’s pictures release.
These are some of the most revealing statements Meghan Markle did in her most recent interview.
The press called my children the N-word
Meghan recalled how she had to close her Instagram account as soon as she started dating Prince Harry. Later, when the couple married, they were allowed to join William and Kate’s official Instagram (@KensingtonRoyal, now @dukeanduchessofcambridge) account before having their own (@sussexroyal). But Meghan said that she didn’t like it so much because of the control the royal staff had over it and how they needed to share any pictures before posting with the British Royal press.
“There’s literally a structure by which if you want to release photos of your child, as a member of the family, you first have to give them to the Royal Rota,” the U.K. media pool, she explained.
“Why would I give the very people that are calling my children the N-word a photo of my child before I can share it with the people that love my child?” she asks, still ruffled. “You tell me how that makes sense and then I’ll play that game.”
That is why they have decided when and where to share the pictures of both Archie and Lili and not rely on any media.
On why they chose California as a home
Despite Meghan being born and raised in Los Angeles, the first choice to move in was any place that was part of the Commonwealth, like Canada, New Zealand or South Africa, but they decided on California at the last minute thanks to a touching message producer Tyler Perry sent Meghan.
According to her, she had never met Perry in person, but when she and Prince Harry got married, Tyler texted her saying that he was praying for her “and that he understood what this meant,” Meghan recalls, referring to the symbolic weight of their wedding, “and that he could only imagine what it was like.” He also added that if she ever needed support or advice, she could reach him.
Right after The Firm refused to help to stop the deterioration of Meghan’s mental health, the couple found support in some friends in Canada, and later, after so much consideration, Meghan decided to reach out to Perry.
“Sometimes, you can tell your life story to a stranger on a plane as opposed to some of the people that are closest to you,” she said.
That is how Perry ended up offering one of his homes, “a literal safe house in Beverly Hills, complete with a security detail — and became, in many ways, the reason that Meghan and Harry started their new life in Southern California”, reads the interviews.
The house hunting in Montecito
At first, according to Meghan, the couple did not have the intention to buy a pricey and gigantic house, but when they visited the place that is now their home, they decided they could do an extra effort to afford it.
“We didn’t have jobs, so we just were not going to come and see this house. It wasn’t possible. It’s like when I was younger and you’re window shopping — it’s like, I don’t want to go and look at all the things that I can’t afford. That doesn’t feel good,” said Meghan.
Eventually, when they toured it, both Harry and Meghan fell in love with the house, and with their new deals with Spotify and Netflix, they could pay for the home their children would grow up in.
On going back to their UK home
Meghan talked about their return to Frogmore Cottage for the Queen’s Jubilee last June. An experience she described as “surreal”.
The Duchess recalled how she found things that the couple had left and even some boxes with things she shipped from her old apartment in Toronto in the hopes of starting a new life.
“It was bittersweet, you know? Knowing none of it had to be this way,” Meghan said.
On having her own voice with her new podcast
A few days ago, Meghan debuted her first and original podcast called Archetypes, streaming exclusively on Spotify. In it, she intends to have real conversations with women who have been struggling with labels imposed by society and that have proved to be untrue.
“It’s so real,” she says. “I feel different. I feel clearer. It’s like I’m finding — not finding my voice. I’ve had my voice for a long time, but being able to use it.”