ITV presenter Ben Shephard was mocked by his Good Morning Britain co-hosts today for urging the Royal Family and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to ‘share their truth’ and ‘hopefully start healing’ after their talks were leaked.
Shephard, who added that it was important for everyone ‘to be honest with each other’, was accused by Susanna Reid of ‘sounding like a Californian therapist’ while Ranvir Singh joked that he needed to get his ‘teeth whitened’.
Shephard, 46, who is standing in for Piers Morgan who resigned last week, told the programme: ‘It feels like this is the sort of thing that’s not going to be sorted out in one phone call. We don’t know how much is going on either.
‘But if there’s been such a hugely seismic moment within a family that has been suddenly thrown, very personal things have been thrown into the spotlight, it’s not going to be sorted out quickly.
‘It’s going to take a while for everybody to be able to share their truth and be able to be honest with each other and hopefully start healing, because that’s what we all want.’
Reid then told him: ‘You sound like a Californian therapist, Ben.’ Shephard replied: ‘Maybe I should be.’ Reid added: ‘Speaking a bit of truth and healing.’ And Singh joked: ‘You need a bit of tan, Ben… get your teeth whitened.’
The language used by Shephard has strong similarities to the words from Meghan and Harry during their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey which first aired on CBS on March 7 and then on ITV the following night.
Meghan used the word ‘truth’ seven times during the interview, while Oprah told her she was speaking ‘your truth’ – and the Duchess also talked about giving an ‘honest’ answer relating to the row over Archie’s potential skin tone.
The word ‘healing’ was used by Gayle King yesterday when she spoke of Harry’s talks with Prince Charles and William – and, during the Oprah chat, Harry said of his relationship with William: ‘Time heals all things, hopefully.’
Shephard’s choice of words was also in stark contrast to the language of Morgan who quit Good Morning Britain last week after he refused to apologise for casting doubts on comments made by Meghan in the interview.
His remarks on the programme sparked more than 41,000 complaints to the media regulator Ofcom, which also had a complaint on behalf of the Duchess of Sussex herself, who had earlier also sent a formal complaint to ITV.
A dramatic GMB programme today also saw former EastEnders star Patsy Palmer shut down her interview after being billed as an ‘addict to wellness guru’, and Reid scolded by former MP Edwina Currie who told the presenter she is ‘not Piers Morgan’ during a heated conversation about the Government’s coronavirus response.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex in conversation with Oprah Winfrey in an interview first aired on CBS on March 7
ITV presenter Ben Shephard (left) mocked by his Good Morning Britain co-host Susanna Reid (right) on today’s show on ITV
Gayle King, who is friends with Oprah and Meghan, revealed on CBS This Morning yesterday that Harry had spoken to William
Also today, British chat show host Trisha Goddard told Good Morning Britain: ‘Beyond them being a Royal Family they’re a family, and this is the part I’m concentrating on.
‘And I’ve said all along when they did that interview what I heard was absolute pain and anguish – and they might not have got all the details right and what have you but the message was we are in pain.
Piers Morgan calls on Britons to ‘stand up for our Queen’ as he lays into Harry and Meghan for trying to paint the royals as ‘a bunch of heartless racists’
Former GMB host Piers Morgan is pictured in London last week
Piers Morgan has called on Britons to ‘stand up for our Queen’ while accusing Harry and Meghan of leading a campaign to paint the Royal Family as a ‘bunch of heartless racists’.
The former GMB host took to Twitter to slam the Duke and Duchess of Sussex a week after resigning from his presenter role for refusing to apologise for comments he made about the couple’s controversial interview with Oprah.
He took aim at the couple again last night, writing: ‘There’s a very deliberate & malicious campaign being perpetrated by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to smear, defame and trash Britain, our Monarchy & the Royal Family as a bunch of heartless racists. It’s disgusting. Time to stand up for our Queen.’
It is the latest chapter in the fallout from Harry and Meghan’s explosive interview with Oprah where the couple suggested that the Royal family was racist, claiming that one unnamed member was concerned over how dark their son Archie’s skin would be.
Speaking after the bombshell interview aired, Morgan said he did not believe the duchess’s remarks in her interview with Oprah, during which she spoke about her mental health and having suicidal thoughts.
He then stormed off set after GMB weatherman Alex Beresford took exception to his comments about Meghan. Shortly afterwards, he left his role as presenter after refusing to apologise for his remarks.
‘Now the Royal Family – a family – needs time to react to that. I’m reminded of something that the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles apparently were having a conversation back in the days of Princess Diana.
‘And apparently the Duke of Edinburgh said to Prince Charles I wish you and Diana would just speak, just talk.
‘And Prince Charles said, well here’s the problem, every time I do it ends up on the front page of a certain tabloid.
‘So if a family feels that everything they’re going to say is going to end up as a headline, they’re naturally going to be more reticent and perhaps less honest, and maybe more sparing with the communication.’
It comes as Harry and Meghan revealed deeply private family conversations to their journalist friend Gayle King, saying that the prince had finally spoken to his father and brother following the interview.
Hours later, Miss King disclosed on CBS yesterday that the talks ‘were not productive’. The breakfast show host also suggested that Meghan was unhappy no one in the Royal Family had thought to telephone her.
And, in a thinly veiled threat, the presenter said the duchess had ‘documents to back up everything she said on Oprah’s interview’.
The fact the Sussexes chose to reveal sensitive discussions between senior members of the Royal Family met with an icy response from Buckingham Palace.
‘None of the households [the Queen, the Prince of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge] will be giving a running commentary on private conversations,’ said a senior royal source.
It was clear, however, that both the Windsors and senior officials see it as a severe betrayal of trust and unhelpful to attempts to rebuild bridges.
Prince William, when he was questioned by a TV reporter on a public engagement last Thursday, said he had not yet spoken to his younger brother, but vowed he would.
He also insisted the Royal Family were not racists after Meghan claimed one member had raised ‘concerns’ about ‘how dark’ her baby’s skin would be, and suggested there was an attempt to deprive Archie of a title and security because he was of mixed race.
The duchess also said she had been given so little support by the Palace that she suffered suicidal thoughts.
Harry said he felt ‘really let down’ by his father, accused him of cutting him off financially and refusing to take his calls, while also revealing the gulf with William.
The Queen responded to the Oprah interview with a deeply personal message saying that while ‘some recollections vary’, the issues raised, particularly that of race, were ‘concerning’ and would be taken seriously.
Significantly, however, she emphasised that from now on the difficulties would be addressed by the family privately.
Prince William is pictured driving outside Kensington Palace in London today after speaking to Harry over the weekend
Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall visit a vaccination pop-up centre at Finsbury Park Mosque in North London today
Prince William, Charles, Harry, Camilla, Kate and Meghan follow the Queen at Westminster Abbey on March 9, 2020
The Queen with Harry and Meghan at the Queen’s Young Leaders Awards Ceremony at Buckingham Palace in June 2018
There have been a handful of stories published in the UK media reporting that Charles and William felt hurt by what Harry had said, but with very little detail on what was taking place behind the scenes.
Donald Trump says he may run against Meghan
Ex-US president Donald Trump speaks in Orlando last month
Donald Trump last night said he might campaign for the White House again in 2024 if Meghan Markle joined the race too.
The former US president was commenting on rumours that the Duchess of Sussex was ‘meeting with Democrat operatives [and] she may want to run’.
He told Fox News: ‘I hope that happens because if that happened then I think I’d have an even stronger feeling toward running. I’m not a fan of hers. I’ve met with the Queen and I think the Queen is a tremendous person and I’m not a fan of Meghan.’
It was reported on Sunday that Meghan had been networking with Democrats.
It is not the first time that Mr Trump has clashed with the Sussexes. Last year he also said he was ‘not a fan’ of Meghan and wished Harry ‘luck’, adding: ‘He’s going to need it.’
The comments, which were made in September, came after the Sussexes were accused of interfering in the presidential election campaign won by Joe Biden.
In what was seen as a thinly-veiled swipe at Mr Trump, Harry urged voters to ‘reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity’.
Meghan added: ‘When we vote our values are put into action and our voices are heard.’
In 2019 Mr Trump called the duchess ‘nasty’ because of her past criticism of him.
That was turned on its head yesterday when Miss King, who attended Meghan’s baby shower in New York in 2019 and is Oprah’s closest friend, decided to speak out on her prime-time morning show on CBS, the same channel that broadcast the Oprah interview.
Harry was accused of ’embarrassing’ hypocrisy this week for speaking to CBS, which caused outrage in 2004 by showing a photograph of his mother dying in a 1997 car crash in Paris.
Miss King told viewers she had called Harry and Meghan at their £10million California home ‘over the weekend’ to discuss the fallout from the interview and revealed they had told her details of their intimate conversations.
She said: ‘Well I’m not trying to break news, but I did actually call them to see how they were feeling, and it’s true, Harry has talked to his brother and he has talked to his father too.
‘The word I was given was that those conversations were not productive. But they are glad that they have at least started a conversation.’
Miss King also claimed the couple were unhappy that ‘the Palace’ had allegedly been leaking what they believed were untrue stories to the media.
She added: ‘And I think what is still upsetting to them is the Palace keep saying they want to work it out privately, but yet, they believe these false stories are coming out that are very disparaging against Meghan, still.’
She made clear that the duchess was unhappy that no one in the family had called her. ‘No one in the Royal Family has talked to Meghan yet, at this particular time,’ she said.
The Sussexes effectively accused the Royal Family and Buckingham Palace of institutional racism in their interview with Oprah.
But Miss King claimed they felt ‘frustrated’ that much of the coverage had focused on this – when they had apparently wanted only to provoke the monarchy into taking action against the media, which they believe has a racist agenda against Meghan.
‘It’s frustrating for them to see that it’s a racial conversation about the Royal Family when all they wanted all along was for the royals to intervene and tell the Press to stop with the unfair, inaccurate, false stories that definitely have a racial slant,’ Miss King said.
‘And until you can acknowledge that, I think it’s going to be hard to move forward.’ She also raised the issue of the investigation launched earlier this month by Buckingham Palace into how claims of bullying against Meghan lodged by a senior member of staff were handled.
She said: ‘Anyone who has worked with her will tell you exactly who she is. You know, she’s really a very sweet, caring person.’
There was no immediate indication from the couple’s team of PR representatives – either in London or California – as to whether Miss King was speaking at their request.