During the new Harry & Meghan docuseries, viewers learned a lot, but one of the more startling discoveries includes none other than Tyler Perry – and you won’t believe why. The 53-year-old filmmaker discussed his relationship with the Royals, including his role as godfather to their youngest kid.
The two first met in 2018 when Perry wrote Markle a letter ‘praying’ for her as she prepared to marry the love of her life amid all of the drama surrounding her father, Thomas Markle. Perry stated in the docuseries how he ‘instantly empathized’ with some of the things Meghan was going through at the time.
A few years later, the two spoke for the first time – a phone chat that left Meghan crying as she spoke up about her treatment by the media. “It hurt to tell Meghan that I thought her thoughts were fair. I didn’t want to have to tell her that, and I didn’t want her to feel that way. But I didn’t want to lie to her,” Perry explained.
“To use the institution to try and do everything a harasser would do — like, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do: we’re going to cut off the money, we’re not going to leave you security, we’re going to do everything to make you conform and come back,’” Perry went on to state that the Palace ‘abused’ the pair.
Tyler Perry grew to admire Prince Harry and Meghan Markle after they opted to stay in the United States and doubled down on their choice to step aside from their royal obligations. Perry handed up his Los Angeles residence to a family in need of a safe place to stay with their son and daughter.
And the Royal couple said yes. During the COVID-19 epidemic, Harry and Meghan remained at one of Perry’s houses and lived their lives away from the drama. “It was beautiful because no one knew we were there,” Harry recalled, adding that they were able to “enjoy a small slice of normal life” during COVID.
The pair first mentioned Perry during their shocking interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021. “We didn’t have a plan,” Markle explained in the 2021 interview. “We needed a somewhere to live, and he [Tyler Perry] offered his protection as well, so that gave us time to figure out what we were going to do.”
Tyler Perry was acknowledged in one of the nicest ways two parents can reward someone for his previous hospitality and continuous friendship over the past two years. When Harry and Meghan asked him to be the godfather of their youngest child, he was at a loss for words, which is reasonable given the circumstances.
“‘Okay, what’s going on?’” ‘Well, we’d like you to be Lili’s godfather,’ they added. ‘Whoa,’ I think. I had to pause for a moment to process that. ‘I’d be honored,’ I thought. He then gave it some thinking and called them back with one condition.
“I called them back and said, ‘Uh, hold on a second — does this mean we have to go over [to the United Kingdom] and do all of that in church with [the royal family] and figure all of that out? ‘Cause I don’t want to do that. ‘Maybe we can do a little private ceremony here [in the United States] and let that be that,” Perry continued.
The first three episodes of the six-episode docuseries premiered on December 8th, and the remaining three episodes were released last week. To catch up on all that is going on with Harry and Meghan today, you can now watch all six episodes on Netflix. They cover a lot, but they also leave a lot unanswered.
