Meghan Markle slammed as "character assassination" in an interview Sunday the incendiary tabloid claim she had made Kate Middleton cry - saying the reverse was true.
In a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan called the claim - pored over at length by the gossip press - "a turning point" in her relations with the royal family.
"Everyone in the institution knew it wasn't true," Meghan said, adding: "The reverse happened."
Kate "was upset about something, but she owned it, and she apologised," Meghan said.
"A few days before the wedding, she was upset about something pertaining -- yes, the issue was correct - about flower girl dresses, and it made me cry, and it really hurt my feelings."
Meghan called the incident "the beginning of a real character assassination."
"I came to understand that not only was I not being protected, but that they were willing to lie to protect other members of the family," she said.
Meghan spoke out forcefully about the loss of agency she says she suffered as part of the royal family.
"That's the sad irony of the last four years...I've advocated for so long for women to use their voice, and then I was silent," Meghan said.
"Were you silent? Or were you silenced?" asked Winfrey.
"The latter," said Meghan.