Former Hollywood actress and current Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle was apparently surprised by a wave of criticism her US election comments and other political statements have caused in the past, the source told the author of the bombshell Finding Freedom memoire, Carolyn Durand, as cited by Elle magazine.
"She thought she was saying something relatively uncontroversial, which is people should get involved and vote. Then, it gets spun into a whole other thing. There are people, especially in the tabloids, that will use whatever they can to go after this couple. There is no doubt there is an agenda,” the insider, who is close to Markle, reportedly shared.
According to the source, “there are people, especially in the tabloids, that will use whatever they can to go after this couple. There is no doubt there is an agenda.”
The 39-year-old Duchess of Sussex, who earlier referred to herself as world’s “most trolled” person in 2019, now apparently “feels, [and] admits, as she said the other day, she has to be constantly careful about what she says and stick to what she thinks will not be controversial.”
“Even telling people to get involved in the democratic process should not be a controversial subject”, the anonymous source insisted, citing Meghan Markle’s alleged perception of the situation.
Carolyn Durand is a co-author of the recently released biography ‘Finding Freedom’, which provides details about the marriage between the Duke and Duchess and their sudden announcement in January that they would step down from their senior royal duties. According to some reviews, the book has presented a kind of Markle-defending view of the situation, as the couple have apparently greenlighted sources close to them to be interviewed on the subject.
The remarks on Markle’s alleged surprise with the criticisms she had received over her vocal pleas followed a video message released in September as a part of the 2020 Time magazine annual list of ‘100 Most Influential People’. In a clip, the Duchess of Sussex urges Americans to take up in “the most important election of our lifetime”, while her husband Prince Harry heavily criticises “hate speech, misinformation and online negativity” ahead of the November poll, something many suggested was a shot against sitting US President Donald Trump.
The video was met with sharp criticisms as members of British royal family are expected to stay neutral on the political subjects and not to spell out their preferences in relation to world leaders. Buckingham Palace later distanced itself from the Duke of Sussex video statements, noting that Prince Harry was “not a working member of the royal family” and his comments were “made in a personal capacity”.
Meghan Markle was also the one who earlier suggested during the online event organized by non-profit organization When We All Vote founded by Michelle Obama that there was a need to make changes to current administration in the White House. She also once branded ongoing the Black Lives Matters riots across the United States as “beautiful thing” as long as they brought “unity and recognition of equality”, despite being “inflammatory” at time.
