In a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, the Duchess of Sussex has shed light on the machinations which left her unable to publicly defend herself against salacious media speculation about her private life.
She claimed she did not have issues about being muzzled about specific members of the Royal family, including the Queen.
But Markle suggested she was told by the family’s public relations arm not to respond to tabloid reports or gossip about her.
“Everyone from my world was given a very clear directive, from the moment the world knew Harry and I were dating, to always say ‘no comment’,” she said.
“And we did.
“I did anything they told me to do.
“Because it was also through the lens of, ‘we’ll protect you’.”
She said she complied by being “silent” despite having “advocated for so long for women to use their voice”.
Asked by Winfrey if she was silent or “silenced”, Markle replied, “the latter’.
While Markle said she did not monitor what the press said about her, friends would tell her it was “really bad” reporting.
“Because I didn’t see it, I would go, ‘don’t worry, I’m being protected’,” she said.
“I believed that.”
She said the situation began to “worsen” after she married Prince Harry.
“I came to understand not only was I not being protected, but that they were willing to lie to protect other members of the family, but they weren’t willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband,” she said.
Markle used an example of reports claiming she had made her sister-in-law Kate Middleton cry in the lead up to her wedding to Harry.
The actress revealed the reversed had happened, claiming the Duchess of Cambridge made her cry in a dispute about flower girl dresses.
She also said the attempts to quell negative reporting about her led to advice for her not to leave home.
“I continued to say to people, ‘I know there’s an obsession with how things look, but has anyone talked about how it feels?’ she said.
“Because it could not feel lonelier.”