December 9, 2022
Meghan Markle’s Mother Speaks Out for First Time in Netflix Documentary ‘Harry & Meghan’
The Duchess of Sussex’s mother, Doria Ragland, is speaking out for the first time in her daughter’s Netflix documentary, Harry & Meghan.
The docuseries dropped on Netflix on Thursday, and in Part I, Ragland said she was happy to finally have the chance to be heard. In the series, Ragland recalled meeting Prince Harry and schooling Duchess Meghan on racism.
Ragland said that when she met her son-in-law for the first time, she thought he was a “handsome man with red hair,” who had “really great manners.” She added she knew “he was the one” for her daughter.
“He was just really nice.”
Ragland described advising her daughter that race was about to be a major factor in her life. Duchess Meghan explained in the documentary that while she’d witnessed her mother being called the N-word, she herself didn’t experience extreme racism until she began dating Prince Harry. She said that she wasn’t treated like a minority or a Black woman, so a talk about racism wasn’t necessary.
“I’d say now people are very aware of my race because they made it such an issue when I went to the U.K,” Meghan said.
Ragland noted her regret in not schooling her daughter sooner about racism. She said she began advising Meghan about racism as the press became aware of the couple’s relationship.
“As a parent, in hindsight, I’d like to go back and have that kind of real conversation about how the world sees you,” she said. “They would take different parts of Skid Row and say that was where I lived, and that was where she was from.”
“I said to her, I remember this very clearly, ‘This is about race,'” Ragland saID. “Meg said, ‘Mommy, I don’t want to hear that.’ I said, ‘You may not want to hear it, but this is what’s coming down the pike.'”
She also recalled the British press saying Duchess Meghan was “Straight Outta Compton” in a headline. The 66-year-old also noted that she felt “stalked by the paparazzi” and that it had been a difficult five years.
“I felt unsafe a lot. I can’t just go walk my dogs. I can’t just go to work. There was always someone there waiting for me,” Ragland said.
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Ragland also noted that she remained silent leading up to the wedding, despite attempts by the press to pay her large sums of money.
“This is my child. Like, I have nothing to say.”
The second part of Harry & Meghan streams on Netflix on Dec. 15.