While appearing on a podcast, Oprah Winfrey has taken a jab at her Montecito neighbours, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, for their tongue-twister of a last name. While appearing on Kelly Ripa’s ‘Let’s Talk Off Camera’ podcast on July 16, Oprah opened up to the host.
During the conversation, Kelly asked Oprah if she would enjoy receiving baby chicks as a gift, and she retorted, “I’d run them straight over to the Sussexes” while mispronouncing the name. The TV host, who has previously interviewed the couple, then playfully repeated “the Sussexes” once again for good measure.
The couple’s surname was a major topic of discussion in March, when Meghan corrected her celebrity friend and The Office star Mindy Kaling in her Netflix cooking show.
Oprah lives close by to the couple, and recalled once rushing to help the pair over Easter when they discovered ducklings in their garden but had nowhere to settle them.
Oprah recalled the situation: “I get a call from Harry, Prince Harry, on Easter Saturday. Sorry to bother you, O, but we have a duck problem here.”
She retells the story of how Harry insisted he wanted to bring the ducks over to Oprah’s house: “Our pond is a stream, we don’t have a pond, so can we bring the ducks over to your pond?”
Oprah agreed but asked Harry to wait because her best friend Gayle King’s grandchildren were coming to visit, but Harry insisted they be moved immediately. She continued: “I said, ‘Wait until I can get the kids to come down to the pond so they can see you put the ducks in the pond.’ And he goes, “No, we’re coming right away, we’re coming over!”‘
The TV host then describes how Oprah, Harry and Meghan, together tried to chase and collect the mother duck who had “fled” and escaped into the garden.
During Easter weekend, Meghan had shared a video on Instagram of the ducks in her garden. She captioned the video: “Wishing you a Happy Easter full of love….and surprises!”
Oprah notably conducted their first interview in 2021, after their move to California when they quit royal duties in 2020.
During her conversation with Gayle King, after the interview, Oprah said: “I didn’t set out do a ‘bombshell’ interview – I set out to do an interview, have a conversation that will allow them to tell their story.”
Kelly Ripa’s podcast, which was released yesterday, includes the description, “Oprah tells a never-before-shared story about her royally famous neighbors, The Sussexes (aka Harry and Meghan).”