Meghan Markle shed more light into her struggles with the British tabloids and royal family in an interview published Monday in The Cut.

The duchess of Sussex describes how much it bothered her that she and her husband, Prince Harry, could not share photos of themselves on social media without first following an established process of giving them to the U.K. media pool. The images would usually then end up in the press before she could post them herself.

“Why would I give the very people that are calling my children the N-word a photo of my child before I can share it with the people that love my child?” she told The Cut. “You tell me how that makes sense and then I’ll play that game.”

In January 2020, Harry and Markle announced they were stepping back from the royal family. The couple cited what they believed was harsh treatment of Markle in the British media, which they said led to a decline in the duchess’ mental health. 

After a brief stay in Canada and later a house owned by actor and director Tyler Perry in Southern California, they eventually landed in Montecito, California, where they launched a nonprofit and media company, Archewell.

Markle told The Cut she believes the British media’s treatment of her stemmed from her being an American, not necessarily a Black American. 

The mother of two also said she and Harry believed the tabloids had justified their fixation on them as “public interest” because their lives were taxpayer funded. To help protect themselves, Markle said they suggested to the Firm, the institution that oversees the monarchy, that they be allowed to work and make their own money, but also move to another country within the commonwealth. Their proposal was rejected despite a handful of other princes and princesses and dukes having the same arrangement, she said.

Markle said the toxic tabloid culture tore two families apart. She is estranged from her father, Thomas, who has been known to share details of their falling with reporters. The duchess also is quoted in the article as saying, “Harry said to me, ‘I lost my dad in this process.”

In a March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Prince Harry revealed his father, Prince Charles, wasn’t taking his phone calls, although Harry and Charles did spend time together at Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee in June. 

In that same Oprah interview, Markle dropped other bombshells, including about some at the palace speculating about how dark son Archie’s skin might be and Kate Middleton, duchess of Cambridge, making her cry during a fight about flower-girl dresses before Harry and Meghan’s wedding in 2018.

Markle, however, sounded open to patching things up with the royal family. 

“I think forgiveness is really important,” she said. “It takes a lot more energy to not forgive. But it takes a lot of effort to forgive. I’ve really made an active effort, especially knowing that I can say anything.”

She, however, doesn’t appear to be second-guessing the decision to withdraw from royal life, remarking in the interview that she can pick up Archie at school without there being a large media hoopla. 

Markle says she and Harry are both “building community” in California — making new friends, the prince joining a polo team.

They’re also building a business. Markle’s new podcast “Archetypes,” part of a reported $25 million deal with Spotify, launched Aug. 23. The podcast features interviews with famous friends about the ways women are unfairly labeled — the first episode featured superstar great Serena Williams.

Harry and Meghan also signed a reported $100 million deal in 2020 to provide content for Netflix. A behind-the-scenes docuseries about the Invictus Games — the competition for wounded, injured and sick service members that was founded by Harry — has yet to be released, and an animated series Meghan was working on was axed. 

Meghan was tight-lipped in the interview about other forthcoming projects, saying she’d leave it up to her publicist and Netflix to share information.