UK's Prince Harry and I are in love, says US actress Meghan Markle

LONDON (Reuters) - US actress Meghan Markle, the girlfriend of Britain’s Prince Harry, has said they are in love and happy together, in her first frank comments about their relationship since they became a couple last year.

In an interview with Vanity Fair magazine published on Tuesday, Markle said she began dating Harry, fifth in line to the British throne, in July last year after she met him through friends.

”We’re a couple,“ Markle told the U.S. magazine. ”We’re in love. I‘m sure there will be a time when we will have to come forward and present ourselves and have stories to tell, but I hope what people will understand is that this is our time.

“This is for us. It’s part of what makes it so special, that it’s just ours. But we’re happy. Personally, I love a great love story.”

The relationship between Harry, 32, the younger son of heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles and his first wife Princess Diana, became public knowledge last November when the prince issued a rare warning to the media to leave his 36-year-old girlfriend and her family in peace, reflecting his own battles with the press.

He was once pictured scuffling with paparazzi outside a London nightclub and in 2012 was photographed partying naked and playing billiards in a private room in Las Vegas.

Asked how she coped with media intrusion, Markle, a divorcee best known for her role in the U.S. TV legal drama “Suits”, said: “I can tell you at the end of the day I think it’s really simple. We’re two people who are really happy and in love.”

She added: ”We were very quietly dating for about six months before it became news and I was working during that whole time and the only thing that changed was people’s perception.

“Nothing about me changed. I‘m still the same person that I am, and I’ve never defined myself by my relationship.”

The British royals, and particularly their often tangled love lives, provide worldwide fascination and on Tuesday, a French court was ordered to pay damages to Harry’s elder brother William and his wife Kate for breaching her privacy by publishing topless photos of her.

Markle said the attention of being involved with the prince had its challenges.

“It comes in waves - some days it can feel more challenging than others,” she said. “And right out of the gate it was surprising the way things changed. But I still have this support system all around me, and, of course, my boyfriend’s support.”

Harry, once the wild child of the royal family who admitted smoking cannabis and getting drunk when under the legal age limit, has secured a place as one of Britain’s most popular royals since enjoying a successful military career which saw him on active service twice in Afghanistan.

The interview fueled speculation among bookmakers that the couple could get engaged soon and comes a day after William revealed that he and his wife Kate were expecting their third child.

Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison

source: news.abs-cbn.com

LOOK: Caitlyn Jenner on Vanity Fair cover

US Olympic champion turned reality TV star Bruce Jenner is on the cover of Vanity Fair, as Caitlyn Jenner.

Jenner, the stepfather of Kim Kardashian, earlier revealed he is transitioning from male to female, ending long-running speculation he identifies as a woman.

The 65-year-old said he had wrestled with his sexual identity since he was a kid.

"I've always been confused about my gender identity since I was this big," he told ABC's celebrity interviewer Diane Sawyer.

"Here I am, stuck -- and I hate the word -- (a) girl stuck in a guy's body... As of now I have all the male parts and all that kind of stuff."

But asked point blank if he was a woman, Jenner said: "Yes. For all intents and purposes, I'm a woman."

Speculation that the actor, race-car enthusiast and 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics decathlon gold medalist was undergoing a sex change has been rich fodder for supermarket tabloids for months.

Supposed telltale signs, based on paparazzi photos from the streets of Los Angeles, include shaved limbs, long hair worn in a ponytail and what appears to be a sports bra under a T-shirt.

'I am not gay'

Jenner said he identifies himself as "her," but not by a specific name. The ABC interviewer used "he" and "him" throughout, without causing any apparent discomfort for the former Olympian.

He stressed the difference between gender identity and sexuality.

"I am not gay," Jenner said. "I am, as far as I know, heterosexual. I've always been with a woman, raising kids."

Just before making the long-expected announcement, Jenner symbolically let his hair down.

"Let's take the damn ponytail out," he told Sawyer, smiling.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights group GLAAD welcomed Jenner's announcement.

"Though Jenner's journey is one that is deeply personal, it is also one that will impact and inspire countless people around the world," GLAAD head Sarah Kate Ellis said.

Singer Miley Cyrus gushed on Twitter: "I LOOOOVE LOOOVE LOOOVE Bruce Jenner!!!!!!!"

Born outside New York in October 1949, thrice-married Jenner became an American sports hero when he set a world record with his Montreal decathlon victory.

Leveraging his fame, he appeared on boxes of Wheaties, a popular American cereal known as "the breakfast of champions," then tried his hand as a movie actor, with less than stellar results.

But it was through his marriage to the former Kris Kardashian that he once again became a household name in "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" in which he appeared as the sometimes bemused stepfather of her flamboyant daughters Kourtney, Kim and Khloe.

The couple have two daughters of their own, but they obtained a divorce in December, 14 months after separating -- although he has been seen still wearing a wedding ring.

Hero once again
"Not only was I able to call him my husband for 25 years and father of my children, I am now able to call him my hero," Kris Jenner tweeted.

Jenner's 89-year-old mother Esther hailed her son's announcement, comparing her pride to that when he won at the Olympics.

"I never thought I could be more proud of you. But I'm learning I can be," she wrote.

Jenner's son Brandon tweeted simply: "Proud son," along with an Instagram picture of himself as a young boy perched on his smiling father's shoulders.

Step-daughter Kim Kardashian trumpeted:

"Love is the courage to live the truest, best version of yourself. Bruce is love. I love you Bruce. #ProudDaughter."

Her sister Khloe wrote: "Bruzer, I'm soooo proud of you! Dads really are heros."

National Center for Transgender Equality advocacy group executive director Mara Keisling called Jenner's declaration "one of the most profound displays of bravery and courage I've seen."

Jenner, clearly relieved to have finally come clean, said: "I'm saying goodbye to people's perceptions of me and who I am.

"I'm not saying goodbye to me because this has always been me." - with a report from Agence France-Presse

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Monica Lewinsky says she was first cyber-bullying victim

NEW YORK -- Monica Lewinsky said she was one of the first victims of cyber-bullying, becoming "Patient Zero" after falling in love with Bill Clinton, as the former White House intern gave her first speech in 13 years on Monday.

In an emotional address at Forbes' inaugural Under 30 summit in Philadelphia that recalled the 1998 sex scandal with Clinton, the 41-year-old brunette announced a campaign to end online bullying.

Lewinsky told a packed auditorium that she was "the first person to have their reputation completely destroyed worldwide via the Internet."

"I was Patient Zero," she said.

"There was no Facebook, Twitter or Instagram back then. But there were gossip, news and entertainment websites replete with comment sections and emails which could be forwarded.

"Of course, it was all done on the excruciatingly slow dial up. Yet around the world this story went. A viral phenomenon that, you could argue, was the first moment of truly 'social media.'"

She spoke of her shame and depression and of harboring suicidal thoughts after news of the 1998 sex scandal broke.

"Staring at the computer screen, I spent the day shouting: 'oh my god!' and 'I can't believe they put that in' or 'That's so out of context,'" she said. "And those were the only thoughts that interrupted a relentless mantra in my head: 'I want to die.'"

She said she was motivated to campaign against cyber-bullying by the 2010 suicide of an 18-year-old New Jersey freshman who was haunted online after being secretly filmed kissing another man.

"Having survived myself, what I want to do now is help other victims of the shame game survive, too," she said. "I want to put my suffering to good use and give purpose to my past."

Lewinsky also joined Twitter, describing herself on her @MonicaLewinsky profile as a social activist, public speaker, contributor to Vanity Fair magazine and a "knitter of things without sleeves."

Within hours she racked up more than 18,000 followers for an account verified by the microblogging service.

Her first tweet was "#HereWeGo" and her second said she was "excited (and nervous) to speak" at the Forbes Under 30 Summit.




Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai is scheduled to speak at the same event on Tuesday.

Earlier this year, Lewinsky broke her silence about her affair with Clinton, in a piece for Vanity Fair.

"I am determined to have a different ending to my story. I've decided, finally, to stick my head above the parapet so that I can take back my narrative and give a purpose to my past," she wrote.

After news of the affair broke, Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives in December 1998 but was acquitted by the Senate.

His wife Hillary, a former secretary of state widely tipped to run for president in 2016, says she has "moved on" from the scandal.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com