There are exposés and then there are exposés! And when it comes to damning takedowns, it doesn’t get much worse than US entertainment bible The Hollywood Reporter’s recent claims about Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex.
Just weeks after the news broke that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Chief of Staff Josh Kettler decided to walk away from his role after just three months, the magazine launched a scathing attack on Meghan, 43, in which they claim to have spoken to a dozen of the couple’s former and current employees to find out why they can’t retain staff – with one referring to Meghan as “a dictator in high heels.”
MEGHAN MARKLE UNDER FIRE
“Everyone’s terrified of Meghan,” a source close to the couple told the US publication. “She belittles people, she doesn’t take advice. They’re both poor decision-makers, they change their minds frequently. Harry is a very, very charming person – no airs at all – but he’s very much an enabler. And she’s just terrible.”
To date, it’s understood that 18 senior employees have quit working for the couple since their royal wedding and at least nine since their move to the US in 2020. Josh is just the latest of many employees to join the “Sussex Survivors Club” as they call themselves.
SINKING SHIP
Before Josh, there was Toya Holness, who was their global press secretary until 2022 and Christine Weil Schirmer, the former Pinterest communications director who quit as head of PR in 2021.
Samantha Cohen, Meghan’s top aide and private secretary departed the same year after almost 20 years working for the royal family. Sources claim she was “screamed at” by the couple before their first official royal tour and felt like she was “working for a couple of teenagers”.
“I’ve watched her reduce grown men to tears'”
According to insiders, Josh also “wasn’t comfortable” with his role and it was mutually decided that he would end his employment with the couple.
Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter claims that it is Meghan, who was cruelly nicknamed “Duchess Difficult” and “Me-Gain” by palace aides because of her penchant for throwing tantrums and sending 5am emails, who is particularly hard to work with. “She marches around like a dictator in high heels, fuming and barking orders. I’ve watched her reduce grown men to tears.”
SMEAR CAMPAIGN?
It’s not the first time Meghan’s work ethic has been called into question.
In March 2021, royal reporter Valentine Low broke the explosive news that a formal bullying complaint had been made against Meghan in 2018, the results of which were never published. The claims were quickly rebutted by the couple who were “saddened by this latest attack on her [Meghan’s] character”. It came just days before they did their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.
To date, Meghan and Harry’s reps have declined to comment.
