CBS
- Prince Harry and Meghan Marke’s highly-anticipated interview with Oprah aired Sunday.
- The couple revealed that they stayed at Tyler Perry’s LA home after stepping back from royal duties.
- They also said Perry provided security after their royal support was removed.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle revealed during Sunday night’s wide-ranging interview with Oprah Winfrey that Tyler Perry provided them with a home and a security detail during their initial move to Los Angeles after their royal support was removed.
During the explosive interview, the couple said that they moved to Los Angeles with their son Archie because their location in Canada – where they had initially settled after stepping back from royal duties in early 2020 – became public knowledge and they were informed by the palace that they would stop receiving private security.
“The biggest concern was while we were in Canada, in someone else’s house, I then got told, short notice, that security was going to be removed,” Harry said. “At this point, everyone knew, thanks to the Daily Mail, our exact location. So suddenly it dawned on me, ‘Hang on, the borders could be closed, we’re going to have our security removed, who knows how long lockdown is going to be, the world knows where we are, it’s not safe, it’s not secure, we probably need to get out of here.'”
“We didn’t have a plan,” Meghan added. “We needed a house and he [Tyler Perry] offered his security as well so it gave us breathing room to try to figure out what we were going to do,” Meghan said.
CBS
Prince Harry said the couple’s royal security detail was withdrawn due to their “change in status” despite receiving confirmation that the risk against their lives had not changed after unsuccessfully pushing back against the decision.
The couple stayed at Perry's home for three months after which they decided to stay in California and purchased their own home. Perry, whose net-worth is currently listed as $1 billion, is best known for his long-running and hugely successful Madea film series and made headlines in 2019 after unveiling his own 300-acre film studio in Atlanta.
Later during the interview, Meghan said that when she was pregnant the couple were told that their child would not receive a royal title and therefore would not be provided with a security detail. She also said that some members of the royal family voiced "concerns" about how dark her son Archie's skin might be before he was born "and what that would mean or look like" if their future baby had dark skin.
She said: "In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time, we have in tandem, the conversation of 'He won't be given security, he's not going to be given a title,' and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he's born."
Meghan Markle is, of course, of mixed heritage.
Neither Harry nor Meghan named which royals expressed the concerns.
Harry said: "That conversation I am never going to share but at the time it was awkward, I was in shock."
