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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Harry And Meghan's Revelations From Bombshell Interview; Restaurants Win Big In Biden's Relief Package; Schools Reopen In U.K. After Latest Coronavirus Lockdown. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired March 08, 2021 - 05:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[05:30:00]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And last night while you were sleeping we heard one of the most detailed and, frankly, devastating indictments of the British royal institution in generations, really. Harry and Meghan recounting in painstaking detail what led to their departure as working royals.

Meghan says racist and sexist coverage in the tabloids -- in the -- in the U.K. tabloids and a lack of support pushed her to a place she never imagined.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGHAN MARKLE, DUCHESS OF SUSSEX: I just didn't want to be alive anymore and that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought. I went to the institution and I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help. I said that I've never felt this way before and I need to go somewhere. And I was told that I couldn't. That it wouldn't be good for the institution.

There are so many people who are afraid to voice that they need help. And I know personally how hard it is to not just voice it, but when you voice it to be told no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: All right. CNN's Anna Stewart live for us in London this morning.

And just wow, Anna. You know, one of the most remarkable moments was how the discussion of how dark Archie's skin color may be -- that was quite a bombshell.

And Harry had a very honest take on their interracial marriage. Listen to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX: This union and the specifics around her race, there was an opportunity -- many opportunities for my family to show some public support. And I guess one of the most telling parts -- the saddest parts, I guess, was over 70 members of Parliament -- female members of Parliament, both conservative and labor, come out and called out the colonial undertones of articles and headlines written about Meghan. Yet, no one from my family ever said anything over those three years. That hurts.

But I also am acutely aware of where my family stand and how scared they are of the tabloids turning on them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: And, Anna, honestly, here in the United States, a riveting two hours of television. It will air in the U.K. later today -- tonight, really. But how is it all going over in the U.K. because I know the papers are full of the coverage even though it hasn't aired there yet?

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Exactly -- they're absolutely dominated by this interview. And I think the key headline, of course, is Meghan saying that she felt suicidal at times. That she asked for help from the palace and didn't get any.

And this bizarre conversation about the color of their son's skin. When Meghan was early in her pregnancy there was a conversation between Prince Harry and his royal family -- one member of the royal family, at least -- where they expressed concerns about how dark the color of their child's skin would be. Absolutely extraordinary.

Now, I can show you some of the newspapers. We have lots of editions through the night. They have been printing through the night.

This is one, interestingly, from 1:00 a.m. This was published just before the interview. Again -- and as you can see here in "The Sun," they've gone for "Megxile" as the headline, which is absolutely fascinating. So it's very much like the "Megxit" headlines we had a year ago when they decided to take a step back from the royal family and ultimately leave the U.K. and it was all put onto Meghan.

And from that headline, you can see that not a lot of has changed except the latest editions of those tabloid newspapers -- I'm not sure we've got them up in time -- but they are a little bit more fair -- a little bit for one day, perhaps, only.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. The difference is now we get to hear her side of it whereas before she says she was silenced and we heard virtually nothing and we didn't get to hear her defend herself.

Another issue where she defended herself on is this whole back-and- forth with her and Kate Middleton, widely reported at the time -- this whole issue making somebody cry. Meghan actually tells a very different story than what we heard.

But a broader point was just the double standard. I almost sort of forgot all of the different ways that Meghan had been vilified on things where Kate had been praised.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPRAH WINFREY, CONDUCTED TELL-ALL INTERVIEW WITH MEGHAN MARKLE AND PRINCE HARRY: Do you think there was a standard for Kate, in general, and a separate one for you? And if so, why?

MARKLE: I don't know why. I can see now what layers were at play there.

WINFREY: Yes.

MARKLE: And again, they really seemed to want a narrative of a hero and a villain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: The biggest thing she seemed to say was just the lack of support she received and how they know how to push back when they want to. When they come after Kate and the family, the firm does push back -- but for her, they didn't.

[05:35:00]

STEWART: That was what we got actually in one of the teaser clips before the interview, wasn't it, when she said that she felt like the firm had played an active role in perpetuating falsehoods. Essentially, once the press put out stories that aren't correct, the palace didn't correct them. They didn't say anything. They had this sort of no comment policy, I guess, and that has been so damaging to Meghan, to Prince Harry, to their mental health and how they felt.

And they have absolutely turned some of the stories on their head. This idea that Meghan made Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, cry in the run-up to her wedding -- Meghan says it was the exact opposite.

Now, of course, we're going to have to put all of this to the palace to get some comment and I really hope we get some.

ROMANS: Yes. We were just showing some "Daily Mail" headlines that just show you kind of the hypocrisy of the coverage of the two women.

You know, we, last hour -- last half-hour, rather, we played Harry saying his dad, Prince Charles, stopped taking his calls after the couple decided to leave their royal duties behind. Harry actually says he has compassion for Charles and for William, his brother. They can't escape as kings in waiting.

Here's what Harry said about their relationships now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WINFREY: Relationship with your father? Is he taking your calls now?

PRINCE HARRY: Yes -- yes, yes, he is. There's a lot to work through there. I feel really let down because he's been through something similar. He knows what pain feels like and this is -- and Archie's his grandson. But at the same time, of course, I will -- I will always -- I will always love him.

WINFREY: And you brother -- relationship? Much has been said about that.

PRINCE HARRY: Yes, and much will continue to be said about that. You know, as I've said before, I love William to bits. He's my brother. We've been through hell together. I mean, we have a shared experience.

But we -- you know, we were on -- we were on different paths. The relationship is space at the moment and, you know, time heals all things, hopefully.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Hopefully.

Anna, what does the future look like for this family?

STEWART: Well, this has been hugely damaging for their reputation. But as you hear there, very damaging for the relationships with the royal family. Prince Harry needs space. There's a lot of it over the Atlantic.

It wasn't all bad news. Perhaps from this they can work on their relationships through the space and also through speaking out about it. I mean, nothing's been left back, it feels.

There was also some good news, of course, in this interview. Meghan and Harry are expecting a little girl in the summer. They are living their new life in California and while it hasn't really been a fairytale so far, Meghan said actually now it feels like the happiest ending of all fairytales.

Their new chapter in California has begun -- them, Archie, and soon to be a little girl. And a lot of chickens they've rescued, which Oprah Winfrey got to meet, which was very enjoyable and a little bit random.

ROMANS: A little bit random.

You know, I think -- I think it's so -- I think that this interview is going to be viewed very differently from -- you know, we are so close -- the Americans and the British are so close, you know -- so close and yet I have a feeling we'll look at this interview from different prisms. It will be interesting to see what it looks like tomorrow from your point of view.

Thank you so much for that. Anna Stewart in London for us.

JARRETT: OK.

Joining us live to talk more about this remarkable interview is Sally Bedell Smith, author of "Elizabeth the Queen" and "Prince Charles: The Passion and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life." And also a CNN contributor. Thank you so much, Sally. It's so great to have you and your expertise.

We heard so many references --

SALLY BEDELL SMITH, CNN CONTRIBUTOR, AUTHOR, "ELIZABETH THE QUEEN" AND "PRINCE CHARLES: THE PASSIONS AND PARADOXES OF AN IMPROBABLY LIFE" (via Skype): Hello, you're welcome.

JARRETT: We heard so many references in this interview to what Meghan called the firm -- the institution. It sounds very --

SMITH: Yes.

JARRETT: -- mysterious. I think for a lot of people --

SMITH: Yes.

JARRETT: -- at home, they wondered who is she talking about?

SMITH: Well, the term "the firm" was originally devised by her -- by Harry's great-grandfather, King George VI. And it was -- it wasn't tongue in cheek but it was just a term that he began to use in relationship to the sort of business of the monarchy. It refers to the people -- the people -- obviously, the members of the royal family and also their households who support them.

And it was never meant to be what it sort of came across to be in the interview as this sort of mysterious, slightly ominous force call the firm. George VI came up with it, not in a jokey way, but it certainly wasn't intended to be used in this kind of ominous fashion in which she made it sound almost like a mafia family.

[05:40:04]

ROMANS: Right. Very matter of fact -- not family, but firm. It says so much.

You know, we also heard, Sally --

SMITH: The firm.

ROMANS: -- echoes of Princess Diana, really, in this interview. Harry says he believes his mother saw something like this coming and, you know, he talked about the inheritance he received from her.

What are the parallels to Harry and Meghan's experience and Princess Diana's relationships with the press and the royal family? She had a -- just a real heck of a time -- Diana did -- and now we're hearing about the trials of this couple.

SMITH: Yes. Well, I think there are many, many differences. The main similarity is that both Diana and, as it turns out, now Meghan and Harry, decided to present their side of the story in a -- in a T.V. documentary that they did secretly. I mean, Diana's was held in secrecy for far longer and it was -- in both cases, they were bearing their souls.

When Harry talked about history repeating itself he was really talking about Diana's relationship with the press, which was very complicated. On the one hand, she hated it. She was pursued by it. On the other

hand, she courted it and invited it. She invited people to come to see her in certain places when she knew that Charles was going to be someplace else and her presence was certainly going to guarantee that there would be headlines in the next day -- in the -- in the tabloids the next day.

So, Diana was playing a very dangerous game with the press for many years. She thought that she was controlling the press but in the end, it often backfired -- as, by the way, "PANORAMA" did. Initially, when she did "PANORAMA," she went to William and said you're going to be very proud of me and he felt quite the opposite. He felt mortified, humiliated.

And she ended up feeling a terrible sense of regret for the kinds of things that she had said, particularly about Prince Charles. I mean, basically, she said he was a bad father. She said he wasn't fit to be king. These were devastating things for her to say.

And so, kind of looking at it in another way, you could say that for Charles, if he watched this but even it was reported to him, it was probably like some sort of terrible post-traumatic stress syndrome flashback. Because the level of accusations -- you know, whether they turn out to be accurate or not or more a product of Meghan's perception -- I mean, I do know -- I was around England a lot in 2018 before -- in the period before the wedding --

ROMANS: Sure.

SMITH: -- and during the wedding when everybody was in love with Meghan -- and everybody in the -- in the royal family and in their household.

And I did speak to -- you know, I spoke to people who were advising them. Who were mapping out a -- you know, a series of roles for them that would --

ROMANS: Sure.

SMITH: -- that would be long-term. You know, they were planning out years in advance.

ROMANS: It certainly did not --

SMITH: And I think of one thing that I --

ROMANS: It certainly did not turn out the way -- the way I think we thought it would in 2018 or certainly the way, as you say, they were planning so many --

SMITH: No.

ROMANS: -- in the U.K. were planning.

Sally Bedell Smith, author of "Elizabeth the Queen." So nice to see you this morning. Thank you for walking us through your perceptions of that fascinating two-hour interview with Oprah.

SMITH: OK, you're welcome.

ROMANS: Nice to see you.

SMITH: Yes.

ROMANS: All right, a quick programming note -- 44 minutes past the hour. A quick programming note. Jake Tapper hosts a live CNN special "BACK TO SCHOOL: KIDS, COVID AND THE FIGHT TO REOPEN." That's Friday night at 9:00 only on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:48:52]

ROMANS: All right.

The check is, well, almost in the mail -- not quite yet. First, a trip back to the house and then to President Biden's desk for a signature. After that, a matter of days before $1,400 stimulus checks land in bank accounts. For the first time, adult dependents, including college-age dependents, qualify for stimulus checks. They were left out the last two rounds.

There's more relief for restaurants. The Senate bill includes $25 billion for a new grant program specifically for bars and restaurants. Eligible businesses can use that money for a number of expenses including payroll, mortgage and rent, utilities, food.

Clubs, concert venues, and other event spaces also received funding with $1 million in grant money there.

Left out of the relief package, gyms. Gym owners have been lobbying for funding, arguing they face the same restrictions as restaurants with facilities forced to close and lay off workers.

JARRETT: All right.

Harry and Meghan are grabbing all the headlines but there's more news in the U.K. this morning -- millions of children returning to the classroom today.

CNN's Isa Soares live at Thomas Tallis School in London. Isa, this is the first time they're back in class since Christmas?

[05:50:03]

ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Many of them -- good morning to you, Laura -- are very excited to be back. Of course, they've been out -- they've been at home, out of school, home learning for some two months. So can you imagine how wonderful it is to be back and actually seeing friends?

As one student said to me, often it's just through text message or via Zoom, so it wonderful to actually see your friends face-to-face and get -- and speak to your teachers. Have that face-to-face learning.

But, of course, Laura, this -- the setup they have in place is so different from the last time. It's much, much stricter, from one-way corridors to face masks that you can see behind me. Many of them wearing -- having to wear face masks -- face coverings -- as well as the teachers, while in class and throughout the school. Plenty of hand sanitizing stations throughout the school.

The other big difference I think -- and I think many of them have brought that up when I spoke to them -- is the fact that they will have to have COVID tests -- COVID tests quite frequently. For the first two weeks of school opening, the majority of people behind me -- in fact, all of them have had to have COVID tests already. They will have to have two COVID tests -- I should say two COVID tests in the last -- in the next two weeks. After that, they will have to do their own rapid coronavirus tests at home.

This is because the government is trying to make sure they can isolate those who are -- who they say are asymptomatic to make sure that, really, the infection rate is not affected and to make sure they don't have to close schools down as they have in the past.

It's all part of Boris Johnson's plan to open up the country -- the cautious plan to open up the economy -- the economy slowly and cautiously.

You get a sense, though, of what the students are feeling with just a show of hands. Can I just interrupt you very quickly for a show of hands?

How many of you are excited to be back? How many of you feel like you have fallen behind when you were doing home learning? And critical -- critically here, how many of you feel that what you have in place at school in terms of the regulations are enough to protect you? You can abide by those?

OK. So the good majority, as you -- as you just saw there, feeling that it's great to be back. And like one student said to me, look, as uncomfortable as it is to be testing myself every week --

JARRETT: Sure.

SOARES: -- I'm doing it for a greater cause.

Back to you.

JARRETT: All those hands were up, happy to be back in class. I imagine their parents are happy to have them back in class, too.

Isa, thank you so much -- appreciate it.

SOARES: Indeed.

JARRETT: All right.

Back here in the U.S., jury selection begins today for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin faces charges of second-degree unintentional murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd. Chauvin is the officer who pressed his knee down on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes, killing him. He faces up to 40 years behind bars if convicted.

Cameras will be allowed in the courtroom. Barriers have been erected outside and the intersection where Floyd was killed has been closed to cars so people can gather there.

ROMANS: All right, 52 minutes past the hour this Monday morning.

Tennis superstar Serena Williams shows her support for Meghan Markle after that bombshell interview with Oprah. Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report." Good morning, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (via Cisco Webex): Yes, good morning, Christine.

So, Serena and Meghan Markle actually became good friends after playing on the same flag football team at a Super Bowl event back in 2014. And we have, of course, seen Meghan Markle go support Serena at her matches. Serena, meanwhile, throwing Markle a baby shower.

And after last night's interview, Serena posting on Twitter saying Markle "...lives her life and leads by example with empathy and compassion. She teaches me every day what it means to be truly noble. Her words illustrate the pain and cruelty she's experienced."

Serena adding, "I know firsthand the sexism and racism institutions and the media use to vilify women and people of color to minimize us, to break us down and demonize us. We must recognize our obligation to decry malicious, unfounded gossip and tabloid journalism. The mental health consequences of systemic oppression and victimization are devastating, isolating, and all too often lethal."

All right. The NBA, meanwhile, holding its annual All-Star weekend all in one night in Atlanta last night, and the league raising more than $3 million for historical black colleges and universities. The NBA honoring different HBCUs and frontline workers throughout the night.

Now, before the game started, after Michael B. Jordan chatted with Vice President Kamala Harris -- she's a proud HBCU graduate of Howard University and she encouraged everyone to get the COVID vaccine when it's their turn.

Now, the game featured team LeBron versus team Durant. First time ever, LeBron and Steph Curry were teammates for a game. But this one was the Steph, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Damian Lillard show.

Steph was shooting no-look threes -- shots from half-court. He even caught an alley-oop in this game. He had 28 points.

[05:55:05]

Giannis made all 16 of his shots, scoring a game-high 35. He was your MVP. And Lillard -- he hit the game-winner from way downtown at the end as Team LeBron wins with the target score of 170, a first.

Steph Curry, your three-point champions, guys. Anfernee Simons the duck champion.

I was there. Pretty cool that they did it even though they didn't have a lot of fans.

ROMANS: Yes.

SCHOLES: But props to the NBA for getting it done.

ROMANS: You know --

JARRETT: You know, Andy, I bet there were a lot of divided households last night. I snatched that remote so fast from my husband as soon as the clock hit 8:00. No more three-point contest.

SCHOLES: All-Stars versus the interview.

ROMANS: I know.

JARRETT: Exactly.

ROMANS: Totally true.

All right, thanks for joining us, everybody. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: They are controlling the narrative for once. They can put their story forwards. They can also say which stories weren't true.

PRINCE HARRY: I'm comfortable knowing.