The primetime plot thickens!
Unless you’ve been quarantining under a rock, you may know by now that Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry will be sitting down with Oprah Winfrey for their first in-depth, tell-all interview since stepping down from Royal Family duties this weekend.
For those who may need some catching up, the upcoming interview special is described as followed, via press release sent to The Root:
In the special, Oprah speaks with Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, in a wide-ranging interview, covering everything from stepping into life as a royal, marriage, motherhood and philanthropic work, to how she is handling life under intense public pressure. Later, the two are joined by Prince Harry as they speak about their move to the United States and their future hopes and dreams for their expanding family.
Leading up to the special, it was announced mid-week that Buckingham Palace will be conducting an official investigation regarding recent reports that Meghan had allegedly bullied “at least two palace aides during her short tenure as a senior British royal,” prompting them to leave their jobs.
As The Glow Up Managing Editor and Regular Root Royal Correspondent Maiysha Kai noted in her recent piece about the upcoming special and the pending “bullying” investigation:
Obviously, this report was strategically timed to drop ahead of Meghan and Harry’s highly anticipated, no-holds-barred interview with Oprah on March 7, and just after the again-expectant couple made their departure from royal life official. The Times acknowledges as much, reporting: “[Sources] believe the public should have insight into their side of the story before watching the couple’s much-publicized interview with Winfrey, due to be televised in the United States on Sunday.”
Welllllll...speaking of strategically timed, CBS has something for that ass! On Wednesday evening, the network dropped the mic—er, video clip—with Meghan speaking on a very specific group of people known as “The Firm.”
“I don’t know how they could expect that after all of this time we would still just be silent if there’s an active role that The Firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us,” Meghan tells Oprah in the new sneak peek clip from the special. “And if that comes with risk of losing things...I mean, there’s a lot that’s been lost already.”
Now, who is “The Firm,” you may ask? Marie Claire recently broke it down, noting that Prince Phillip (who recently underwent a “successful” surgery procedure for a recent heart condition) coined the term to describe the royal family and is often used with a cynical tone, in addition to the term “The Crown” (as used by the popular Netflix dramatized series of the same name). Basically, the name denotes their “big business”-esque financial power as well as the scale of the family itself.
Needless to say, the clip was extra timely and relevant. The fact that this footage already existed before Buckingham Palace announced its investigation leads me to believe there is something deeper afoot; their latest decision to open an investigation now that Meghan is opening up about her experiences in this tell-all is just an additional hit in a long line of hit pieces against her. Since we’ve only been given out-of-context snippets and teases (leading folks to believe there is scalding tea to be had), we can only imagine.
What’s hilarious about all of this is that any alleged attempts to deter the audience or discredit this upcoming interview is only...luring more people to watch it. It’s sure to be a ratings bonanza for CBS, to be honest. So, whether you call them biscuits or cookies, get your snacks ready. This is going to be an event, honey.
Oprah With Meghan and Harry: A CBS Primetime Special airs Sunday, March 7 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.