Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Interview: How Much Did Oprah Winfrey Get Paid?

Everyone has been talking about Oprah Winfrey’s intense interview with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry. During the interview, the pair revealed a number of things that were quite damaging to the British royal family. How much did Oprah get paid for the iconic sit down?

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle interview revelations

There were a number of insights that Meghan and Harry gave during their interview. At one point, Meghan revealed that the constant harassment from the press had her considering suicide.

“I realized that it was all happening just because I was breathing and I was really ashamed to say it at the time and ashamed to admit it to Harry because I know how much loss he’s suffered but I knew that if I didn’t say it — then I would do it and I just didn’t want to be alive anymore,” Meghan told Oprah of when she had to tell Harry she was thinking of hurting herself.

Another shocking revealtion was that the royals refused to give the Sussex’s son Archie a title and were concerned about how dark his skin would be.

“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 gonna be given a title and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might when he’s born,” the Duchess told Oprah.

Since the Commonwealth is predominately made up of people of color, it was weird to Meghan that the royals wouldn’t embrace having a family member of color.

“I could never understand how it wouldn’t be seen as an added benefit and a reflection of the world today, at all times, but especially right now,” she said. “To go, how inclusive is that you can see someone who looks like you in this family, much less one who’s born into it.” 

How much was Oprah paid for the interview?

Though Prince Harry and Meghan were the ones who gave all of the revelations, it was Oprah who was really driving the show.

“Before we get into it, I just want to make it clear to everybody that even though we’re neighbors… that there has not been an agreement. You don’t know what I’m going to ask, there is no subject that’s off-limits and you are not getting paid for this interview,” she announced at the beginning of the interview.

She asked some hard hitting questions and refused to allow the couple to glaze over certain issues.

While the Sussexes were not paid for their interview, CBS paid Oprah’s production house, Harpo Productions, $7 million, according to The Washington Post.

“Oprah could have gone to another network with this interview,” historian Nancy Koehn, who has done several case studies on Oprah, told the outlet. “She could have gone exclusively to a streaming service [like Apple]. But she understood that CBS on Sunday nights, with a broad audience but also a certain amount of seriousness, was going to get a lot of people watching on television with also a lot of online engagement.”