Piers Morgan has explained how he came to be friends with Meghan Markle before she met Prince Harry.
The broadcaster, who is about to launch his new show Uncensored, shared details of how their brief friendship began in a new interview.
Speaking to The Times, Morgan said that Markle messaged him after he followed her on Twitter after watching some episodes of the TV show she used to star in, Suits.
“One day, I was bored at home – this was 2015 – and I followed four of the stars of Suits on Twitter. Three of the guys and Meghan Markle… She direct-messaged me five minutes after I followed her saying, ‘Oh my God, thanks for the follow. I’m such a big fan!’ which is quite ironic given the way things have played out,” he said.
Morgan added: “She’d watched me on CNN, liked me, blah-blah-blah, whatever. Anyway, I started exchanging messages with her and a guy called Rick Hoffman, who plays Louis Litt in Suits. The three of us messaged away, sending me early preview episodes, emailing. He came on Good Morning Britain; we sent the pictures to Meghan. All very light-hearted.”
The former Good Morning Britain star then said that she asked to meet up with Morgan when she came to England in 2016.
“That came from her,” he continued, stating: “I said, ‘Why don’t you come and have a pint in my local, the Scarsdale?’ She came down, we had a couple of hours, a great laugh, thought she was really nice. Great fun. She said she was getting a few calls from guys, received a lot of texts, people being quite persistent, blah-blah-blah… I put her in a cab, she went to some dinner in Mayfair at 5 Hertford Street, and I never heard from her again.
“It turned out she’d met Harry that night,” Morgan told the outlet, explaining that both Markle and Hoffman “disappeared”.
“I just thought, the pair of them, such poor manners,” he said.
Morgan stepped away from GMB after attracting widespread criticism for comments he made about Markle following her tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The broadcaster repeatedly claimed that he “didn’t believe a word” she said about having suicidal thoughts during her time as a senior royal.
