Piers Morgan’s shock exit from Good Morning Britain has dominated the headlines in recent weeks.
And finally, the outspoken broadcaster has broken his silence on his controversial comments about Meghan Markle.
Piers has had plenty to say ever since The Duchess of Sussex dropped, as he terms it, “a nuclear-sized scandal bomb into the very heart of the Royal Family”.
During the Royal couple’s interview with Oprah Winfrey, they claimed comments had been made about the colour of their son’s skin, and also addressed Meghan’s harrowing battle with her mental health.
After branding Meghan a liar, Piers refused to apologise, which eventually saw his well-publicised demise from the popular ITV breakfast show.
The incident resulted in over 57,000 official complaints to Ofcom – the highest since records began for a single event.
And speaking in his Mail on Sunday column, Piers has had plenty to say on the explosive Oprah interview which rocked the nation and sent shockwaves across the world.
Here at Daily Star we take a look at 10 of the juiciest revelations and bombshells from Piers’ exclusive piece.
Jeremy Clarkson text
Piers and fellow broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson have been at loggerheads for a number of years.
But Piers revealed his former enemy reached out with a welcome message of support ahead of ITV’s decision to ask Piers to apologise.
Piers, of course, quit on his own terms and it’s been reported he’s since been inundated with lucrative job offers.
“The show’s on fire, in every sense,” penned Piers in his weekend column. “But the flames are now raging uncontrollably towards me.
“To compound my growing twitchiness, I got a text from my old foe Jeremy Clarkson that read: ‘I am completely on your side.'”
Piers added: “Oh s***. This must be more serious than I thought.”
Susanna Reid apology
Piers joked his ex-wife spoke more highly of him than his former TV wife Susanna the day after his GMB departure.
He turned on GMB to see what his former co-host would say about their “sudden divorce” – and was left shocked when a stony-faced Susanna read a short statement to clarify Piers’ departure.
“He is, without doubt, an outspoken, challenging, opinionated, disruptive broadcaster,” said Suzanna.
“But now Piers has decided to leave the programme. Some of you may cheer and others will boo.”
A day later Piers revealed Susanna rang him to apologise for the tone of her “chilly” goodbye and for a long “clear-the-air” chat.
The upshot was the pair, who worked together for five years, agreed that when the dust settles, they will go for a boozy lunch.
Susanna, who gave up the booze two years ago, apparently joked: “I’ll definitely need to get drunk after this.”
17 mins for someone to apply for his job
Minutes after Piers quit, someone acted fast and applied to fill his giant shoes.
Piers, 55, joked he found the speedy response to his departure “highly amusing” after he was informed by ITV’s director of television, Kevin Lygo.
He reflected: “Television is full of happy smiley fakes who pretend to be your biggest fan to your face but who’d dance the tango on your grave if they thought it would get them more airtime.”
Murder threat
Piers revealed police are investigating a death threat he and his eldest son Spencer, 27, received.
The ex-GMB host stressed online trolls had targeted him as a “marked man” after he quit the show and reportedly upset The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Piers also revealed that his three sons – Spencer, Stanley and Albert – had also received threatening messages from people online.
“One troll vowed to murder me in front of them, and added: ‘When your dad dies, the world will have a party.'”
“Normally, I revel in the noise,” Piers wrote. “But unregulated social media, as anyone in the public eye will confirm, has got increasingly vicious and nasty.”
ITV didn’t tell him to apologise initially
(Image: Getty Images)
“I was told I didn’t need to apologise,” stressed Piers in his column, despite reports he’d be sacked if he didn’t.
“ITV asked me to clarify what I meant [about not believing Meghan’s experiences about suicidal thoughts] on tomorrow’s show, which I’m happy to do as it’s been deliberately misconstrued to suggest I don’t think victims of mental illness should be believed.”
Piers, who previously won an award for promoting mental health, didn’t apologise and later admitted he was left with no choice but to quit.
“As requested by ITV, I clarified my position on mental health by saying: ‘I still don’t believe what Meghan Markle says generally in this interview, and I have serious concerns about the veracity of a lot of what she said,” the veteran presenter said.
“But let me just state my position on mental illness and on suicide. These are clearly extremely serious things and should be taken extremely seriously and if someone is feeling that way, they should get the treatment and the help that they need every time.”
ITV boss said he was on cliff edge
Piers knew his job was balancing precariously on a tightrope despite the bombshell show breaking new records, with the highest viewing figures in their history.
But by mid-afternoon on March 9, Piers admitted Kevin Lygo rang him to stress developments had left the situation “on the cliff edge”.
Piers said he would have to apologise or be asked to leave GMB. He obviously opted for the latter.
Alex Beresford never reached out
Piers admits weatherman Alex Beresford was the only main GMB player not to reach out.
“I’ve had nice messages from all the other GMB presenters, apart from Alex Beresford, and many of the wonderful production team, from camera operators and producers to make-up artists,” revealed Piers.
Piers accused Alex of “whacking” him to make a name for himself, following their explosive on-air bust-up over their opposing views about Meghan Markle’s claims in her jaw-dropping Oprah interview.
The former Britain’s Got Talent judge also said, what he branded as Alex’s “censorious lecture” about Meghan, was what prompted him to storm off the GMB set.
“I don’t mind outside guests trying to make a name for themselves by whacking me like this, but I wasn’t going to sit there and take it from one of my own team, especially someone who I’ve gone out of my way to help whenever he’s asked me for advice about his career,” said Piers.
During their on-air row, Alex branded Piers “pathetic” for his “absolutely diabolical behaviour”.
Other ITV work not affected
Piers might have given up one of the most sought-after jobs on the breakfast circuit, but he was delighted to learn that ITV wanted to retain his services.
His Life Stories have been very successful on ITV and Piers admitted he had no grudges with the broadcaster following his exit.
“Kevin Lygo got back in touch to say ITV would like me to continue doing other stuff for the network, including Life Stories, which I’m happy to do,” revealed Piers.
“I don’t have any problem with ITV, my problem is with the increasingly insidious woke cancel culture that’s now infesting all companies like ITV.”
Mobbed by fans in public
With more spare time on his hands than he’d arguably like, Piers spent many days going for strolls with his family.
And whilst on a walk with son Spencer and eight-year-old daughter Elise, he admitted: “I was approached literally every two minutes, and everyone was on my side apart from one pinch-faced, Guardian-reader-looking lady who viewed me being mobbed and shouted: ‘YOU’RE ALL REVOLTING!’
“That rare outburst of negativity was immediately mitigated by another woman moments later who shouted: ‘THE WHOLE OF SPAIN IS BEHIND YOU!'”
Suggestion he might run for PM
(Image: PA)
And just as you thought the whole saga couldn’t take another bizarre twist, well, it did.
The suggestion that he could be the ideal replacement for PM Boris Johnson put a comedic spin on proceedings.
And that cheeky suggestion came from a flower seller.
“A flower seller on Kensington High Street stopped me today to proclaim: ‘Piers, mate, you should be Prime Minister,’” recalled Piers. “We’d all vote for you. You stand up for what you believe in.'”
He added: “Obviously, it’s a crazy idea. I mean, who on earth would vote for a polarising, scandalous journalist with a posh name who refuses to apologise for anything.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
