Oprah shocked like everyone else about her Prince Harry & Meghan Markle interview

While out promoting her forthcoming book, Oprah Winfrey appeared on the debut episode of "The Nancy O'Dell Channel" on talkshoplive®, and took a moment to reflect upon her groundbreaking primetime sit-down interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle that aired March 7.

"I had no idea that it would have the reverberating impact that it has had and continues to have," Winfrey said. "I did a lot of preparation for that. It was really important to me that what we put out there in the world was put out into the world at the time that everybody could see it and that things didn't leak and things weren't misconstrued before the actual interview happened."

The 67-year-old continued: "I remember when we finished doing the interview, and that interview was three hours and 20 minutes, I think, I stood up and said to the crew, 'We all know what was said here and how important it is to have a trust to the people who just shared that so I'm hoping you all will not go out into the world and share what has happened here.' And nobody did. So as we were releasing clips to CBS, we were releasing them in such a way that whatever was being put out there could not be exploited. So a lot of time and effort and energy went into it on my part."

O'Dell asked Winfrey more specifically if she "was surprised by how open" Harry and Meghan, considering the many bombshells revealed on camera included that Markle had endured suicidal thoughts and that unnamed members of the royal family had questioned how dark Archie's, their first son, skin color might be as a biracial child.

"I was surprised," Winfrey added. "I was surprised at the amount of—literally, that thing that has now become a meme that's like, 'What?!' I'm like, 'You're going there? You're going all the way there?'"

The married couple also divulged their second child expected this summer is a girl and dished on their ongoing process to distance themselves from the royal family. (Prince Harry would later reunite with his brother, Prince William, at Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh's funeral earlier this month.)

Winfrey's book, written alongside Dr. Bruce Perry, is titled What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing and due out Tuesday (April 27).

Watch the full conversation between O'Dell and Winfrey here.