Prince Harry and Meghan’s friend Tyler Perry, who provided them with a house to live in when they first moved to Los Angeles, has said that Princess Diana was ‘thrown to the wolves’.
On Thursday, new episodes of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s documentary dropped on Netflix, taking viewers behind the scenes of the moment they stepped down as senior working members of the royal family and departed for Canada.
In a video filmed by Harry, 38, on their flight, he 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.’
Actor and comedian Tyler, 53, then explained on the programme how he got in touch with Meghan before her wedding after seeing stories about her father and their fractured relationship in the press.
‘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,’ he said, recounting his own experience with fame.
‘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.’
Meghan, 41, acknowledged in the documentary that she’d never met Tyler before he reached out, when he sent her a letter ‘saying he was praying for me and that if I ever need anything, he would be there’.
A significant amount of time later when Meghan and Harry were in Canada, 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,’ Tyler recollected.
‘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.”’
The Gone Girl star then outlined how a lot of his knowledge surrounding the royal family came from the death of Harry’s mother, Princess Diana.
‘The most that I knew about the royal daily was around Princess Diana’s death. 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.’
Tyler also spoke about the abuse his own mother suffered, saying that he’s aware of the symptoms’.
‘I knew what it was like. Everyone’s like, “Tyler, how dare you compare this to the abuse of your mother?” This woman was abused. And so was he,’ he said.
In the documentary, Tyler opened up about the moment Meghan and Harry asked him to be their daughter Lilibet’s godfather, expressing how taken aback he was by the request.
They said, “Well, we’d like for you to be Lili’s godfather.” I go, “Whoa.” I had to take a minute to take that in, and I thought, “I’d be honoured. I’d absolutely be honoured,”’ he said.
Harry & Meghan is available to watch on Netflix.
