Piers Morgan claims he's uncovered so many 'whoppers' in Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Oprah interview that he can't ...
Piers Morgan claims he's uncovered so many 'whoppers' in Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Oprah interview that he can't believe a word she says.
Comparing her to Pinocchio, Piers told Fox Nation's Tucker Carlson last night that there were "a lot of disingenuous falsehoods" and exaggerations in the bombshell Oprah chat, of which he claimed 17 have "now been proven to be either completely untrue or massively exaggerated or unprovable"
"I don't understand really why I should have to believe people who are not telling the truth," he told Tucker, later adding: "You know, there were so many ridiculous whoppers in this interview that frankly, in the end, you know, saying I would believe her would be like saying I believe Pinocchio. It’s like, why would I?"
Let's take a look at just some of the 'whoppers' Piers says were untrue...
Meghan and Harry's secret wedding
Among the many gems to emerge in the Oprah interview was Meghan's claim she and Harry had a private wedding without witnesses three days before they exchanged vows in front of the world.
"You know, she claimed they got married three days before the big global wedding we saw on television. I knew that – I knew that couldn't have happened because she said it was just the two of them with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the most powerful churchman in Britain," said Piers.
"That's illegal. If that had happened just the three of them, the archbishop would have been arrested for breaking the law.
"So there were things like that where I thought, well, that's not true, but that was not allowed to be a position I could adopt. I was told that you got to believe Meghan Markle, and if you don't believe what she’s saying, you're a racist."
Since Meghan made the claim to Oprah, the archbishop has denied legally marrying the pair but refused to rule out a private vow-swapping ceremony before their televised wedding.
Royal Family refused to help Meghan with her mental health
Ultimately what got Piers axed from GMB was his refusal to issue a public apology for claims he'd made on-air disbelieving Meghan had suffered suicidal thoughts.
She broke down in tears in the Oprah interview saying at times she'd felt like she didn't want to be alive any more, but was told by the Palace that she couldn't get help because it "wouldn't be good for the institution".
Piers told Tucker: "I made the point - clarified exactly what I meant. I said, look, it’s not for me to say whether she felt suicidal. That’s only for her to know and I couldn't possibly say. What I was taking issue with was that she claimed that she went to two members of the royal household, a senior aide and also to Human Resources, and she told both of them that she was feeling suicidal and needed [help] and both of them rejected that and said she couldn’t get help because it would be bad for the brand of the royal family.
"I just find that impossible to believe that you would have two people in the palace who would be that callous to a woman telling them that she was suicidal. But also, there’s the position of Prince Harry in all this. He is attached to many of the biggest mental health charities in Britain.
"He makes no secret of his desire that everyone who feels depressed or anxious or has suicidal thoughts to get immediate help, and yet here was his wife who says she was feeling constantly suicidal, and Prince Harry never sought to get her help. And I find that very hard to believe frankly."
He added: "So I was really just I think being journalist saying, look, you're making these incendiary claims. You're accusing two people in the palace of being unspeakably cruel simply to protect the brand of the royal family. If that is true, let’s have the names of these people and let’s go to them and ask them, is this true? Did you tell a suicidal woman who told you she was suicidal she was not allowed to get help? Because I just find that impossible to believe."
That Meghan was silenced
One of the stand-out moments from Meghan's Oprah chat was when the TV host asked her if she had been "silent... or silenced?" - and Meghan said it was the latter.
However, Piers poured scorn on her claim, telling Tucker: "This idea that Meghan Markle was silenced - Meghan Markle guest edited British Vogue magazine in the middle of her silence. Meghan Markle made 73 public appearances, many of which she spoke at during her extended period of being silenced."
Later in the interview, he and Tucker discussed how Meghan lodged a formal complaint with ITV hours after Piers' furious diatribe on Good Morning Britain.
"I'm sure it hasn’t escaped your notice that moments after she complained about being silenced, she called your boss to silence you," said Tucker.
"I mean, you couldn’t make this stuff up, frankly," laughed Piers.
Harry wanting privacy in his LA life
"You know, the week before, Harry had been on an open-top bus going through Beverley Hills with his friend, James Corden. It’s just the prince of privacy, who was talking about his private life and the lives of his family on an open-top Hollywood star bus. The lack of self-awareness of these two is, frankly, breathtaking," raged Piers, referring to the filmed skit Harry took part in for The Late Late Show.
Later in the interview, Piers pointed out another example of where the Duke and Duchess of Sussex shunned their own privacy.
"We know that within several days of the Oprah interview that Charles - Prince Charles and Prince William, who are our future two kings of Great Britain, both called Prince Harry to discuss the interview," he explained.
"And the reason we know that - incredibly private information remember - Meghan and Harry, two of the most private people in the world, if you believe that - the first thing they did was tell Gayle King, Oprah’s best friend who hosts the CBS morning show, who then broadcasted to the American people that not only had Charles and William called, which in itself was an invasion of their privacy, but that the calls had been unconstructed. They hadn't gone anywhere.
"I don't know how they can trust them again, if that was my family. Could you trust a family member if every time you call them, they immediately ring the anchor of a big American breakfast show?
"So again, complete hypocrisy. Invading other people's privacy whenever it suits them. But all to keep the pot boiling and making themselves talked about, which ultimately is their own eCurrency. They're not making all this money through talent."
That Meghan had passport taken away by the Palace
Meghan confided in Oprah that she'd had her keys, drivers licence and passport removed from her by royal aides when she joined the Firm - but Piers pointed out she'd still managed to travel around the world.
"Meghan Markle claimed that she had her passport taken away so she couldn't fly. Yet, miraculously, she took 14 flights, some of them on Elton John’s private jet, while she was simultaneously along with Harry lecturing us about our carbon footprint."