FACT CHECK: Did Meghan Markle Send This Tweet About Oprah Winfrey?

Elias Atienza | Senior Reporter

An image shared on Facebook claims to show a tweet from Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle about Oprah Winfrey being “gagged.”

Verdict: False

The tweet comes from a parody Twitter account. Markle does not appear to have a Twitter account at this time.

Fact Check:

Markle and her husband, Prince Harry, were interviewed by Winfrey for a CBS March 7 prime-time special. During the interview, Markle alleged the palace showed indifference towards her mental health struggles and some individuals made comments about how dark her son’s skin color would be, USA Today reported.

Buckingham Palace later released a statement on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II two days after the special aired, saying that the Royal Family is “saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan” and that “issues” raised during the interview would be “taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately,” according to Town & Country magazine.

Since the interview, Facebook users have been sharing an image that appears to show a screen grabbed March 7 tweet from Markle containing three photos from the interview of Winfrey seemingly reacting to things Markle and Prince Harry were saying. “Oprah was GAGGED okay??” the purported tweet reads.

The tweet, however, was not actually sent by Markle. While Markle did, according to Newsweek, have a Twitter and an Instagram account until around January 2018, she does not appear to currently have an account on either platform. A search on Twitter did not show any verified Markle Twitter account, and the accounts that do use her name usually disclose that they are not affiliated with Markle or her family.

Celebrity tweets often make news headlines. Had the Duchess of Sussex actually sent such a tweet, media outlets likely would have picked up on it, yet none appear to have done so. (RELATED: Did Oprah Winfrey Wear An Ankle Monitor During Her Interview With Meghan Markle And Prince Harry?)

An archived version of the Twitter account that sent the tweet, @MeghanMarkleHRH, specifies in its bio section that it is a parody account, further proving the tweet was not sent by Markle herself.

Elias Atienza

Senior Reporter
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