15:18 PST 3/8/2021
in
Alex Ritman
The charity Mind said it was “disappointed and concerned” about Morgan’s allegations that he did not believe Markle when she discussed having suicidal thoughts, adding that she was in discussion with her employer ITV, with whom she joined in a campaign of mental health.
Oprah Winfrey’s explosive interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry aired on the other side of the Atlantic on Monday, effectively on national soil due to her subject matter.
One day later Oprah with Meghan and Harry: a CBS primetime special was broadcast in the United States, the two-hour special with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – which revealed the inner workings of the royal family and the couple’s reasons for leaving – landed on the British ITV network, which had won a bidding war for the interview.
The broadcast in the UK came after the bombshell revelations had already dominated the British press, where they received almost full coverage for most of the day, including a significant amount of hostility from certain elements of the media. Among the most outspoken was Piers Morgan, who used his Good morning Great Britain breakfast news – also on ITV – to attack the two royals.
A longtime and very public critic of Markle, Piers said that Prince Harry “was shooting his whole family on global TV” and that “Prince Charles has been funding that couple for the past five years” on a program that was effectively dedicated to the interview. Morgan was harshly criticized on social media, but among his most controversial statements was that he did not believe Markle when she revealed that she felt suicidal, provoking a torrent of criticism.
“I don’t believe a word of what she says,” he said. “I wouldn’t believe it if she read me a weather report.”
Among those who responded was British charity Mind, which happens to support ITV’s mental health campaign, Get Britain Talking. Just before the interview aired on the UK network, he released a statement.
“We were disappointed and concerned by Piers Morgan’s comments about not believing Meghan’s experience of suicidal thoughts today,” the newspaper said. “It is vital that when people seek support, they or share their experiences of mental health problems, are treated with dignity, respect and empathy.”
Mind added that he was “in talks with ITV about this at the moment”.
– Mind (@MindCharity) March 8, 2021