Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's close friend Tyler Perry said that Princess Diana was "thrown to the wolves" after her marriage to King Charles ended. Perry, who provided the Duke and Duchess of Sussex with a house to live in when they moved to California, is also the godfather to their daughter Lilibet.
Speaking in the second instalment of Harry and Meghan;s Netflix series, the Gone Girl actor discussed the moment Harry, 38, and Meghan, 41, asked him to be their daughter's godfather and was "honoured" by the sweet request. Harry and Meghan volume two aired on Netflix on Thursday, December 15, as viewers saw their journey stepping down as working royals and embarking on their new life in America.
The couple touch on the fact that they hadn't yet met Perry, 53, when he allowed them to stay in his home and labelled the actor an "amazing friend". Sharing a video from their flight overseas, Harry said: "This is the current situation, thanks to another amazing friend who we’ve never met, but who believes in us and who wants to help."
The actor explained on the docuseries that he got in touch with Meghan before her royal wedding to Harry in 2018, after stories about her estranged relationship with her father, Thomas Markle, circulated in the press. He explained: "When my life changed and success started to come, family members became different people, and I know how hurtful that can be and how horrible it can be.
"I immediately empathised with her. This was before the wedding and I sent her a note, just praying for her just to be able to move through it and hold on, and let her know that everything in her life had prepared her for this moment, or so I thought."
It wasn't until years later that Meghan eventually reached out to the comedian, where she called Tyler on the phone, crying to him during their first ever conversation. "I could hear the fear. It was palpable. I mean, I could hear it," he said.
"So I asked her, what was she afraid of? She took a deep breath, and she started listing the things, 'I’m afraid of…' And I said to her, 'Every one of your fears are valid.”’
Tyler acknowledged that much of his knowledge surrounding the royal family came after the death of Princess Diana. "The most that I knew about the royal daily was around Princess Diana’s death," he said.
"There’s a moment that I’ll never forget where she’s walking through the airport and she has a tennis racket in front of her face and she’s trying to get away from the press and they’re all over her. And I realised that after the marriage ended, she was thrown to the wolves," he said, as footage of that moment was shown in the documentary.
"So to tell Meghan that I felt her feelings were valid, hurt. I didn’t want to have to say that to her, I didn’t want her to feel that. But I didn’t want to lie to her."
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