"I don't believe almost anything that comes out of her mouth. I think the damage she has done to the British monarchy and the Queen... is enormous, and frankly contemptable," said Piers Morgan.
The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, 39, has reportedly filed a complaint with the British television station ITV against former Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan, 55, the broadcaster's own royal editor was quoted as saying by ABC News.
The 55-year-old host, who was the face of the country's top-rated breakfast shows, said that he did not believe a word the duchess had uttered during her interview with Oprah Winfrey. The station's royal editor, Chris Ship, said that the Duchess complained following the broadcast of Good Morning Britain. "Meghan raised concerns about how [Piers Morgan's] words affect the issue of mental health and what it might do to others contemplating suicide," he wrote on social media.
Ship said he believes that the complaint was sent to the broadcaster's chief executive, Carolyn McCall. It was part of one of 41,000 complaints sent to ITV against Morgan's comments.
So ... the Duchess of Sussex formally filed a complaint to @ITV on Monday.
— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) March 10, 2021
It’s thought to have been sent to the broadcaster’s CEO.
Meghan raised concerns about how @piersmorgan’s words affect the issue of mental health and what it might do to others contemplating suicide pic.twitter.com/rA09dOQ4GN
"I don't believe almost anything that comes out of her mouth," Morgan had said. "I think the damage she has done to the British monarchy and the Queen, at a time when Prince Philip is lying in hospital, is enormous, and frankly contemptable," he added.
The 55-year-old wasn't always against Markle. "I found her to be a very smart, focused, thoughtful, feisty and confident woman … I really, really liked her," he said in December 2016. He had called her the "perfect princess material" soon after it was revealed that Markle was dating Prince Harry. Back then, he wrote that if he were Harry, he would ask her to marry him. Morgan had met Markle for drinks in a London pub the first week she started dating Harry, according to ABC News.
He said that Markle had sent him a direct message on Twitter in 2015 when he followed her and other cast members of the US television drama Suits. He said that they spoke regularly for the next few months while discussing the show, as well as Meghan's trip to Rwanda for the United Nations, spinning classes, and calligraphy.
He added that the former actress had suggested that they meet in London and they met up for drinks at the Scarsdale Tavern in Kensington for 90 minutes before she left for a dinner at a club in Mayfair. It was at that dinner that she met Harry for the first time. "Ambitious about her career as an actress, yes. But there's nothing wrong with that, and she's genuinely talented as fans of her TV show Suits will know," he wrote in December 2016.
"More importantly, she seemed to have a real and touching concern for the future of the planet and its more impoverished and vulnerable members. As for Meghan's suitability, consider this: she's lived life a bit, professionally and sexually, and is not a naive 19-year-old virgin like Diana," he added.
Markle, who spoke about her experience of living with the royal family, told Winfrey that she "didn't want to be alive anymore." She also said that she would have ended her life if she had not told her husband, Harry.
Since the bombshell interview, Morgan ranted against the duchess and tried to discredit her experience by saying he doesn't believe her words. He also stormed off the show after getting into a heated debate with the weatherman Alex Beresford. In the end, Morgan said he and the station "agreed to disagree" after he refused to apologize for his comments. He said, "Freedom of speech is a hill I'm happy to die on." He also added that it was "not for me to question if she felt suicidal."
Along with feeling suicidal, the duchess said she did not receive support from the royal family after raising the same concerns. She had also spoken about how the color of her as yet unborn son was discussed.
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Cover image source: Getty Images | Photo by (L) Frazer Harrison (R) Jeremy Selwyn
