Oprah Winfrey laughs off Meghan’s zip-it gesture, explains question that put UK royals under fire

US TV legend Oprah Winfrey mentioned her famous interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as she relived some of the most iconic moments in her career during an interview with Vanity Fair.

Among the highlights explored was her 2021 interview with Meghan Markle, in which Winfrey asked the Duchess of Sussex whether she had been "silent" or "silenced" during her time as a working royal before her and Prince Harry's departure from the UK.

"My favourite moment in any interview is when either a person says it out loud - 'I never thought of it that way before,'" she explained, "or you can see in their eyes, something just happened, and they never thought of it this way before."

In the 2021 interview with Oprah Meghan said, I've always valued independence. I’ve always been outspoken, especially about women's rights. I mean that’s the sad irony of the last four years. I've advocated for so long for women to use their voice. And then (makes a zip-it gesture) … I was silent.“

“Were you silent? or were you silenced? Oprah asked making the same gesture.

“The latter,” Meghan responded.

In her latest Vanity Fair interview, Oprah says, “Very nice. I don't I’ve done it (Zip-it gesture) since. I don't know where the hell that came from.”

She then explained why did she ask Meghan whether she stayed silenced or forced to stay silent. “I wanted to be clear… was she silenced? Were people telling her not to talk?”

“That's why I said that. I said it for clarification because I didn’t want later to hear. "Well, no, it wasn't that. It really was that I was silenced. They wouldn't let me talk"? So, it was all for clarification.