Oprah Winfrey on bombshell Meghan and Harry interview: Racism claims 'surprised'

Oprah Winfrey has opened up about what she thought of her interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on March 8.

The TV host confessed she was "surprised" Meghan decided to go "all the way there" when it came to her claims of racism within the royal family.

Oprah also said she had no idea the claims made by the Sussexes during the interview would turn out to have such a big impact.

"I had no idea that it would have the reverberating impact that it has had and continues to have," Oprah told Nancy O'Dell'snew TalkShopLive show.

"Our shared intention was the truth. They wanted to be able to tell their story and tell it in such a way that allowed them to be as truthful as possible," the 67-year-old talk show host added.

Oprah Winfrey went in depth with Nancy O'Dell about her thoughts on the royal interview. Photo / Getty Images

She admitted she was "surprised" when Meghan spoke about the claims that a royal family member had raised concerns over baby Archie's skin colour.

"What? You're going there? You're going all the way there," the host told O'Dell.

"The reason why it was such a powerful interview … was when you have somebody else who is willing to be as open, as vulnerable, as truthful as they were," she added.

Oprah also went into detail about how the team ensured no one in the crew leaked any of the content of the interview before it aired, in an effort to stop the Sussexes remarks from being "misconstrued".

The talk show host said she was surprised when the bi-racial Duchess of Sussex said that royals had raised concerns over the darkness of baby Archie's skin. Photo / Supplied

"So I remember when we finished doing the interview and that interview was three hours and 20 minutes I think, and I stood up and said to the crew, we all know what was said here, and how important it is to have the trust of the people who just shared that, and so I'm hoping you all will not go out into the world and share what has happened here. And nobody did," she recalled.

"And so, as we were releasing clips to CBS, we were releasing them in such a way that whatever was being put out there could not be exploited. So a lot of time and effort and energy went into it on my part."

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Oprah also said only texted with Harry and Meghan before the interview.

"I didn't see Harry and Meghan before but I did text them and say intention is very important to me, tell me what your intention is, so that we can be aligned in our goal. And our shared intention was the truth," she said.

This was out of the norm for the talk show host, who usually has a conversation with guests before she interviews them. However, she felt it was important to do it this way.

"They wanted to be able to tell their story and tell it in such a way that allowed them to be as truthful as possible."