The Duchess of Sussex was advised “it would be best if she could be 50% less”, according to Oprah Winfrey.

The talk show star said Meghan confided in her in 2018, and the conversation left Winfrey “disheartened”.

Winfrey appeared on US breakfast show CBS This Morning to discuss her bombshell interview with Meghan and the Duke of Sussex and recalled a conversation she had with Meghan when she first approached her in 2018.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex during their interview
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex during their interview (Joe Pugliese/Harpo Productions)

She told the programme: “She had just joined the royal family and she shared a conversation with me then that made me feel somewhat disheartened.

“She said she had been told, been given advice, that it would be best if she could be 50% less than she was. That was the quote, if she could be 50% less.

“I remember hearing that in 2018 and I said to her, ‘I don’t know how you’re going to survive, being half of yourself’.”

Winfrey was a guest at the couple’s 2018 wedding and given a prime seat at the ceremony.

She had reportedly been courting Meghan for an interview for a number of years before the couple stepped back from royal life.

She has also been photographed with Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland.

The couple’s home in California is close to Winfrey’s in the affluent neighbourhood of Montecito and Winfrey’s best friend Gayle King, an anchor on CBS This Morning, was a guest at Meghan’s baby shower.