Meghan and Harry Find Divorce Rumors ‘Distressing’
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have reportedly found the brutal Vanity Fair takedown of them “distressing.”
Harry and Meghan, who still use the titles the Duke and Duchess of Sussex despite having left the working royal family five years ago and denounced the institution for treating them poorly, were also accused of being bullying bosses in the VF cover story, headlined “American Hustle” and published Friday.
The couple were accused of intimidating employees, and Harry was painted as naive and socially isolated. VF also reported that Meghan’s team had shopped a book about her possible divorce from Harry.
Anonymous neighbors in their town of Montecito, California, criticized the duke and duchess as “entitled” and said they had drawn unwelcome attention to the area.
The couple have not issued a formal response, however, The Times of London reported Monday that sources close to the couple have described the coverage as “distressing,” and added that “friends of the Sussexes point to recent comments made by another neighbor, the actress Sharon Stone, who said that Meghan and Harry waved to people in the street.”
Stone told Access Hollywood in 2020: “They’re a part of our community, they’ve become a giving, caring, participating part of our community. They’re not here to be like ‘Would you like to kiss my butt?’”
The Times cited sources “close to the Sussexes” as directing them to comments made by previous employees who had “gone on record in the past” to say they were good bosses.
This appears to be a reference to a fawning and much-mocked story in Us Weekly in which serving staff members, including Meghan’s head of PR, said the couple gave their staff freshly cut flowers and free-range eggs, and made them feel like plants being watered.
Former employees of Meghan’s—the so-called “Sussex Survivors Club”— who disputed this characterization of her management style, told The Daily Beast in September that Meghan was a boss who had “psycho moments” and could be a “demon.”
Over the weekend, one of those employees told The Royalist newsletter that they feel “vindicated” by the astonishing claims in Vanity Fair, which reported that several people “described taking extended breaks from work to escape scrutiny, exiting their job, or undergoing long-term therapy after working with Meghan.”
The Daily Beast’s source said: “I feel desperately sorry for the people affected, because I have been there, but I also feel vindicated. All those people saying she is the world’s greatest boss should be ashamed of themselves. It’s obviously very tempting to work for her when you are being wooed and love-bombed, but people should be in no doubt; she is a nightmare. I would think the atmosphere will be particularly hellish now everything is going to s--t. She doesn’t do disappointment well.”
The Vanity Fair piece made the astonishing allegation that “a rumor” has circulated in “the book world” that “Meghan’s team had a conversation with a publishing house to gauge interest” in a book about “a post-Harry divorce.” The writer says it was clear that the idea was not for “a general book on life after marital dissolution,” and that the unidentified person allegedly acting for Meghan made it clear that the couple were not getting divorced, but was seeking to know, if such a divorce did happen, “would this publisher theoretically be interested in a book that took place in its aftermath?”
Harry and Meghan did not comment to Vanity Fair and have not responded to requests for comment from The Daily Beast.
An old friend of Harry’s who still lives in the U.K. told The Royalist, noting that Meghan’s new cooking show has been ridiculed and postponed, and that Harry has a grueling court case coming up: “Things aren’t easy for them right now. Vanity Fair have succeeded in making a bad time worse.”