Don Lemon Calls Meghan Markle's Talk on Racism After Marriage 'Shocking'

CNN host Don Lemon on Wednesday called Meghan Markle's comments about not experiencing racism until after she married a white man "shocking" and "eye-opening."

Lemon made the remarks during an episode of CNN's New Day where he discussed Markle's new Spotify podcast, Archetypes. He praised the Duchess of Sussex for discussing her biracial identity on a recent episode featuring Mariah Carey. During her interview with the singer, Markle said that throughout most of her life she was not treated as a Black woman or a white woman due to being "light-skinned."

"If there's any time in my life that it's been more focused on my race, it's only once I started dating my husband," Markle said.

Lemon said during the New Day segment that Markle was explaining how "she didn't get the full Black treatment" before meeting Prince Harry.

"What she was essentially saying was is coming from a place of privilege where she did not have to deal with racism until she married a white man," Lemon said. "She's got all this criticism and all this attention, and suddenly she understood or understands what it's like to be part of a group of people, especially women in this country or in Europe, who are discriminated against.

"Actually, I think it's an eye-opening podcast, and I commend Meghan Markle for going there, even though it is a bit shocking that at 30-something years of age, she is just understanding what it's like to be a Black woman in America. It's a bit surprising to me."

During the podcast episode—titled The Duality of Diva—Carey also discussed her own experience as a biracial person.

"That's an interesting thing—a mixed woman," she said. "Because I always thought it should be OK to say I'm mixed but people want you to choose."

The Archetypes episode also made headlines for a moment when Carey said Markle has her own "diva moments."

Markle asked the Grammy-winning singer for an example, and Carey said it was the duchess' fashion style that could be associated with divas.

"It's the visual," Carey said. "A lot of it's the visual."

After the interview, the duchess summed up the talk and said Carey's comment made her "sweat a little bit."

Markle went on to detail how the word "diva" can mean different things to different people.

"She meant diva as a compliment, but I heard it as a dig. I heard it as the word diva as I think of it," she said. "But in that moment as she explained to me, she meant it as chic, aspirational...how one word can mean something very different for each of us. It's mind-blowing to me."

Newsweek reached out to Lemon for further comment.