Meghan Markle: “Rude and Racist Are Not the Same”

Barely 12 hours after the world tuned in for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, there were more clips made available the following morning.

As the journalist said in her follow-up interview on CBS This Morning, it's no easy feat trying to condense a conversation that was over three-hours-long into less than 90 minutes for an edited primetime interview with commercial breaks. So, the Monday morning follow-up delivered even more revelations that could not have been squeezed into the night before, namely the specific address of the racist rumors published in the press about Meghan, and the ways in which that differed from how Kate Middleton was treated when she was engaged to marry Prince William.

During the Sunday night interview, Meghan revealed she struggled with suicidal ideation as a result of the U.K. tabloid press and her isolation in the royal family. In the bonus clips, Prince Harry revealed that he and Meghan asked for help with her mental health as the tabloids continued to publish rumors about her, and that he recognizes that the environment was toxic and has attempted to frame the situation so that his family could understand that toxicity as well.

"I am part of the system with them, I always have been," he said. "My brother can't leave that system, but I have." When asked if William might want to leave the system, Harry said, "I don't know, I can't speak for him."

"Do they think it's a toxic environment, or do you all just think it's a toxic environment because you are now out of it?" Winfrey asked, then specifically inquired if his father, Prince Charles, would say the environment is toxic. "I think he's had to make peace with it," Harry replied, and he and Meghan then went on to explain that making peace with the situation was not possible for them, because this was "different" than any royal rumor dustup in the past.

Meghan then brought up the fact that it was not only racism and her status as an American, but social media being so new, especially with regards to tabloids, that indicated the family had no precedent for how to handle the situation. "I think the volume of what was coming in and the interest was greater because of social media, because of the fact that I was not just British, and that unfortunately, members of his family say, 'Well, this is what's happened to all of us,' [as] if they can compare what the experience that I went through was similar to what has been shared with us," she said.

For Meghan, there really is no comparison between what she has gone through and Kate Middleton's tabloid treatment. "Kate was called 'Waity Katie,' waiting to marry William, while I imagine that was really hard, and I do. I can't picture what that felt like. This is not the same," she told Winfrey. "And if a member of his family will comfortably say we've all had to deal with things that are rude, rude and racist are not the same."

According to the Sussexes, Kate also received some backup from the royal family's press team. That same press team failed to come to Meghan's defense. Prince Harry also revealed that his family has yet to acknowledge the role that racism has played in the situation, and that the reason Meghan has been treated differently than someone like Kate is because she is Black and the first person of color to marry into the royal family. "It would make a huge difference [if they acknowledged race]," he said. "There's a lot of people that have seen it for what it was…it's talked about across the world," he went on, and added that some people in his family "choose not to see" the realities of racism in the U.K.