Meghan Markle's BFF Daniel Martin Says Documentary Was a "Relief"

On Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, the actress-turned-Duchess of Sussex gets emotional while talking about dealing with the negative press she has faced as a new royal and a new mom.

By Corinne Heller Oct 24, 2019 2:57 PMTags

Meghan Markle's longtime makeup artist and good friend Daniel Martin says it was a "relief" to finally see her open up publicly about her struggle with the intense media scrutiny in Britain, and is confident she will persevere.

On the ITV documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, which follows her, Prince Harry and their 5-month-old son Archie Harrison on their recent tour of Africa and which aired this week, the actress-turned-Duchess of Sussex gets emotional while talking about dealing with the negative press she has faced as a new royal and a new mom.

"To be honest, it's been tough," Daniel said on CBS This Morning on Thursday. "I feel like this is now, watching this documentary, it's been almost a relief seeing her at a point where she can be honest about what's been happening. I feel like all of us who have known, we just didn't know what to do or how to help, but I feel like just putting this out there...it has been challenging. It's hopefully demystified a lot that's been going on over there."

Martin said he thought it was helpful that Meghan spoke out. On the documentary, Meghan thanks journalist Tom Bradby for asking her about her well-being, adding, "Because not many people have asked if I'm OK."

"You can see it in her face when she reacts to him, when he asks her that question," Daniel said on CBS This Morning. "She pauses and then she goes into it and you really see that in her eyes."

When asked if he would call Meghan a "weak person," Daniel said, "No, not at all."

"I feel like she has a lot on her plate and I feel like she just wants to make sure that her boys are safe and that she's going to, you know, I know her, she's going to totally take care of this. It's just understanding the ways around it," he added.

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Son Archie Makes His Official Royal Tour Debut

Also on the documentary, Harry vowed to protect Meghan and Archie from the tabloid press, which he has long blamed for the death of his mother, Princess Diana, who died in a car crash in 1997 after being chased by the paparazzi. He also broke his silence about tensions with his brother, Prince William.

During their tour of Africa, Harry called out the British tabloids for what he has called a "ruthless" campaign against his wife, and he and Meghan began legal proceedings against The Mail on Sunday for publishing excerpts of a private letter she had sent her estranged father, Thomas Markle, and against the publishers of The Sun and The Mirror over alleged phone hacking.

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Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan are planning on getting away from it all for a while; they plan on taking a six-week break from royal duties, during which they are expected to bring Archie to the United States for the first time and spend Thanksgiving with the duchess' mother, Doria Ragland, and then return to the U.K. to celebrate Christmas with Queen Elizabeth II and the rest of the royal family.