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Piers Morgan has been criticising Meghan Markle across social media and various broadcasting outlets for years now.
Most recently, he slammed the duchess for opening up about her mental health during her and Prince Harry’s Oprah Winfrey interview.
Piers’ comments on Good Morning Britain, where he said he didn’t believe Meghan’s claims of suicidal thoughts, saw him out of a job.
Meghan herself even filed a formal complaint against him for his repeated attacks on her and Harry.
Piers Morgan has been attacking Meghan Markle and Prince Harry for years now.
(Getty)Now, UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom has ruled in Piers’ favour and the broadcaster is celebrating his supposed victory over “Princess Pinocchio”.
But where did all this animosity come from?
What has fuelled the broadcaster’s supposed hatred for the duchess?
And why is Piers so determined to publicly bash Meghan, especially given the pair were once friendly?
Dive into Piers Morgan and Meghan Markle’s complex history to understand why the Duchess of Sussex has been battling his attacks for years.
2016: Piers and Meghan’s friendship
Piers and the Meghan appeared to first connect in 2015, when followed the then-Suits star on Twitter and she followed him back.
He claims she messaged him at the time saying she was a “big fan”, and a few months later he shared an essay she wrote about racism on Twitter, calling it “brilliant”.
They continued to interact online, with Piers tweeting that they met in July 2016, writing: “Great to finally meet you too @meghanmarkle.”
Soon after, news of Meghan and Harry’s relationship hit the press and Piers went on to publish an article in the Daily Mail about meeting her earlier that year.
“Meghan and I chatted for 90 minutes, long enough for me to get a good insight into the new Royal girlfriend,” he wrote.
Meghan was still acting on Suits when she and Piers first connected.
(Getty)The article claimed Meghan had set up the casual meeting with Piers, and he had only positive things to say about her.
Piers even wrote: “Meghan Markle is perfect princess material.”
He continued to tweet and write positively about the actress until she and Harry announced their engagement in November 2017.
2017 – 2018: Meghan becomes a royal
When news of the couple’s royal engagement broke, Piers tweeted: “Congrats Meghan & Harry, my friend will make the perfect modern bride.
“P.S. Do I get an invite @meghanmarkle?”
His attitude towards the soon-to-be Duchess began to change in the weeks and months that followed.
It began with a Daily Mail column titled: “Hearty congratulations, Harry, you picked a real keeper (even if your romance did destroy my beautiful friendship with the amazing Meghan Markle).”
In it, Piers claimed that following his and Meghan’s meeting in 2016, he never heard from the actress again and seemed to blame her new royal ties.
He also angled for an invite to the royal wedding again, but when Meghan and Harry’s nuptials rolled around in May 2018, he was not on the guest list.
In response, he penned a critical column accusing the new Duchess of Sussex of turning her wedding day into a “scripted”, “Oscar-winning performance”.
Months later, he claimed during a TV interview that the “social climber” new royal had “ghosted” him after their 2016 meeting.
Piers was not invited to the couple’s royal wedding in 2018.
(Getty)2019: Piers lashes out
At the end of 2018 and start of 2019, Piers’ criticism of the duchess became more blatant and scathing.
In his TV role on Good Morning Britain, Piers interviewed Meghan’s estranged father Thomas Markle and blamed the duchess for her father not being at her wedding.
He followed that up with a Daily Mail column titled: “Meghan Markle is a ruthless social climbing actress who has landed the role of her life and is determined to milk it for all she can.”
In it, he made new claims about their 2016 meeting, accusing the duchess of trying to use him to boost her career in the UK.
Throughout 2019, Piers continued to attack Meghan on social media, while in private the royal was struggling with her mental health during and after her pregnancy with son Archie.
Meghan revealed in a 2021 interview that she was experiencing thoughts of suicide when this photo was taken.
(Getty)2020: Meghan and Harry step down
At the start of 2020, she and Prince Harry announced their plans to step down from their royal roles and Piers’ attacks reached new heights.
He lashed the couple on Twitter, blaming Meghan for their decision to leave their senior roles in the monarchy.
Piers went so far as to call the duchess a “ruthless, social climbing, fame-obsessed piece of work who’s now forced Harry from his country.”
Throughout the months leading up to their exit, Harry and Meghan made several statements about the impact the vicious tabloid and social media criticism had on them.
While they didn’t mention Piers specifically, he faced criticism from fans who accused him of deliberately going after the couple to incite outrage and get attention online.
Despite the backlash, Piers continued to slam the couple – Meghan especially – online and on TV for the rest of 2020 and into the start of 2021.
2021: The Oprah interview fallout
In March 2021, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle sat down for a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, where they made several bombshell claims.
They opened up about alleged racism within the royal family, the impact of the press on their mental health, and Meghan’s suicidal thoughts in 2019.
Piers responded by lashing the royal once again on Good Morning Britain, calling the interview “disgraceful” and saying he didn’t believe her claims about her mental health.
“I’m sorry, I don’t believe a word she said, Meghan Markle,” he said.
When a co-host challenged Piers during a live segment for continuing to attack the duchess, Piers stormed off the show’s set.
Hours later, news broke that he wouldn’t be returning to his role at Good Morning Britain.
At the same time, UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom announced that it had received more than 41,000 complaints about Piers’ comments.
It was later revealed that Meghan herself had also filed a complaint over Piers’ continued attacks.
“Following discussions with ITV, Piers Morgan has decided now is the time to leave Good Morning Britain,” ITV said in a statement at the time.
Piers refused to back down despite losing his job and continued to bash Meghan and Harry online and in subsequent TV appearances in the UK and US.
Piers attacked Meghan for her mental health claims to Oprah Winfrey.
(CBS)2021: Outcome of Meghan’s official complaint
Now, months after the Oprah interview and subsequent fallout, Ofcom has ruled that Piers’ Good Morning Britain comments did not breach any broadcasting codes.
By the time Ofcom released its ruling, more than 50,000 complaints about Piers’ comments had been sent in.
In its ruling, Ofcom said: “While we acknowledged that Mr. Morgan’s questions about the nature of racism had the potential to be highly offensive to some viewers, the conversations about race and racism in this program provided open debate on the issues raised by the interview.
“Despite strong opinions expressed during the program, in Ofcom’s view any potential offense was justified by the context.
“The restriction of such views would, in our view, be an unwarranted and chilling restriction on freedom of expression both of the broadcaster and the audience.”
In response, Piers took to Twitter to celebrate his “victory” over Meghan and her supporters and demanded his Good Morning Britain job back.
“This is a resounding victory for free speech and a resounding defeat for Princess Pinocchio. Do I get my job back?” he wrote.
Piers also penned a Daily Mail column where he claimed Meghan “wrote directly to my ITV boss Dame Carolyn McCall the night before I was forced out, demanding my head on a plate.”
The Duchess of Sussex has not responded to the news or any of Piers’ claims, nor has ITV offered the broadcaster his job back.
