Duchess Meghan Reveals Friends Warned Her of the Scrutiny When She Began Dating Prince Harry: ‘I Had No Idea’

Since marrying Prince Harry in May 2018, life hasn’t been all rainbows and butterflies for Duchess Meghan (née Markle). In fact, the royal opened up about her life as the Duchess of Sussex and revealed her friends tried to warn her about what it’d be like dating Queen Elizabeth‘s grandson.

“In all fairness, I had no idea, which probably sounds difficult to understand and hear,” the 38-year-old beauty revealed to ITV News at Ten anchor Tom Bradby in a candid interview for the documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, which aired in the U.K. on Sunday, October 20.

“But when I first met my now-husband, my friends were really happy because I was so happy but my British friends said to me, ‘I’m sure he’s great but you shouldn’t do it because the British tabloids will destroy your life,'” Meghan candidly explained. “And I very naively — I’m American. We don’t have that there — [I said,] ‘What are you talking about? That doesn’t make any sense. I’m not in any tabloids. I didn’t get it. So it’s been, yeah, it’s been complicated.”

The former Suits actress opened up about her struggles as a new royal and mom to baby Archie after Harry, 35, issued a statement in early October addressing tabloids for “bullying” his wife.

During her candid chat with the ITV News reporter, Meghan — who has been accused of having a royal feud with sister-in-law Duchess Kate (née Middleton), slammed for taking a private jet with Harry while vacationing in the south of France, among many other outrageous claims — admitted that she didn’t think the media would be this ruthless.

“The biggest thing that I know is that I never thought that this would be easy but I thought it would be fair,” she confessed. “And that’s the part that’s really hard to reconcile but, I don’t know, just take each day as it comes.”

The former Deal or No Deal model added that although she signed up for life in the spotlight, she is not OK with tabloids printing false stories about her. “If things are fair, that completely tracks for me if things are fair. If I do something wrong I’d be the first one to go, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’m so sorry. I would never do that,’ but when people are saying things that are just untrue and they’re being told they’re untrue but they’re allowed to still say them, I don’t know anybody in the world who would feel that that’s OK,” she explained. “And that’s different than just scrutiny. That’s, what would you call that? That’s a different beast. It’s really a different beast.”

Even though the royal mom is over dealing with the tabloids, Meg gushed that she’ll be just fine as long as she has her two favorite boys. “I think the grass is always greener,” she said. “You have no idea. It’s really hard to understand what it’s like. I know what it seems like it should be. It’s a very different thing. That’s okay. The good thing is I’ve got my baby and I’ve got my husband and they’re the best.”

Meghan is such a positive mama!

Harry & Meghan: An African Journey will air in the U.S. on ABC on Wednesday, October 23, at 10 p.m. ET.