Either Meghan Markle or her handlers at WME thought they could show that she enjoys the backing of Hollywood A-listers by having Chrissy Teigen go on Instagram this week to reveal that she was one of the privileged 50 to be gifted a jar of the duchess’s limited-edition American Riviera Orchard strawberry jam.
Sure, the influencer wife of John Legend has long commanded a significant social media presence, with 43 million Instagram followers. But she’s also become a problematic celebrity, with her reputation never quite recovering after she was embroiled in a cyberbullying scandal in 2021.
Moreover, Teigen’s fall from grace has been seized upon by Meghan’s critics to revisit the fact that she, too, was embroiled in a bullying controversy. The Times UK first revealed in 2021 that the wife of Prince Harry was accused in a Buckingham Palace investigation of bullying royal aides during the 18 months that she was a senior working member of the royal family.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 26: Chrissy Teigen attends the 62nd Annual GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on January 26, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
“Meghan Marble and Chrissy Teigen are the 2 biggest bullies on D-list fame! Happy to see them teaming up!” wrote Stephanie Sidley in response to Teigen’s Instagram post, in which she shared using Meghan’s jam in a grilled-cheese sandwich with bacon and brie cheese. “This might have been one of the best bites we’ve had all year,” Teigen wrote, with cheese dripping out of her mouth.
Sidley, by the way, hosts a YouTube show with her sister that capitalizes on criticism of Meghan and Harry. On Teigen’s post, fans of Meghan and Teigen were quick to turn on Sidley and tell her that she’s “the bully” and the “hater.”
When the bullying allegations against Meghan were first reported, her spokesperson strongly denied them and called the Times story another “attack” on her character and part of a bigger “smear campaign.” Teigen, on the other hand, acknowledged her past bad behavior, saying she was an online “troll,” especially when she sent vicious messages to teen media personality Courtney Stodden in 2011.
Now, some people commenting on Teigen’s jam post clearly don’t think Meghan has put the bullying allegations behind her. Teigen’s post also isn’t the only place that discussion about the allegations have been making a comeback.
Just as Meghan is trying to relaunch herself as a lifestyle influencer, outlets in the U.K., Australia and the U.S. have reported on speculation that the palace staffers who claimed they were bullied might be ready to come forward, the New York Post reported.
The speculation began earlier this month when a former palace aide, Samantha Cohen, confirmed in an interview with the Herald-Sun, an Australian newspaper, that she was one of 10 staffers who were questioned about the allegations, Page Six reported.
Cohen declined to elaborate on the allegations but alluded to the fact that there was a high staff turnover among those who worked for Meghan and Harry. Cohen was a long-time aide for the late Queen Elizabeth II, but went to work for Meghan, at the queen’s request, to help get the American actor ready for royal life.
“I was only supposed to stay for six months but stayed for 18 – we couldn’t find a replacement for me and when we did we took them on tour to Africa with Harry and Meghan to show them the ropes but they left (quit) as well while in Africa,” Cohen said in the interview.
Cohen’s interview prompted royal author Tom Bower to opine that more information about Meghan’s alleged bullying could come to light now that Cohen has spoken out.
“The trickle of information will, soon enough, become a stream,” Bower, the author “Revenge,” a critical book of Meghan and Harry’s departure from royal life, wrote in an editorial for the Daily Mail on Tuesday.
Bower said that Cohen was tasked with persuading Meghan, an independent- and career-minded California-born actor, to “embrace the royal family’s immutable hierarchy and rigid protocols.” He said Cohen probably became exasperated with Meghan because she either disagreed, or failed to understand, “these non-negotiable elements of royalty.” “I believe that members of Samantha Cohen’s team viewed this as an irresponsible self-indulgence,” Bower wrote.
According to the 2022 book, “Courtiers,” by Valentine Low, the Times royal reporter who first reported on the bullying allegations, Cohen privately complained that she felt she’d been “treated harshly” by the couple and likened the job to “working with teenagers.”
In Low’s original story for the Times, he reported that Meghan drove two personal assistants out of the household and undermined the confidence of a third. She is alleged to have said, “It’s not my job to coddle people” after aides were left in tears and humiliated by her “difficult demands.”
The Times also found that Meghan’s problems with her royal staff could not simply be attributed to a clash of cultures and an American’s “straight-talking” ways. One former staff member said the duchess could be sharp with anyone she felt let her down, saying, “I had unpleasant experiences with her. I would definitely say humiliated.”
While Buckingham Palace issued a statement in 2021, saying it was “very concerned” about the bullying claims, the palace subsequently said in 2022 that it would not make public the results of its investigations into the allegations.
Several P.R. experts interviewed this week by The Telegraph said the bullying allegations could be one of the barriers for Meghan successfully restoring her public image, especially in the U.K. She’s also made enemies of royal supporters who don’t like the way she has disparaged the monarchy in interviews.
“There’s a lot to unpick and correct and that takes honesty and guts and patience. If you air your dirty laundry in public, it will take time for it to dry,” Natalie Trice, a U.K-based P.R. consultant who has worked with CEOs of CNN and Discovery Channel and other companies.
“Meghan has a voice and a platform, what does she want to use it to say?” Trice told The Telegraph. “Who is she and what does she really stand for? I don’t think anyone knows yet. And hopefully it’s more than flogging strawberry jam to rich people.”
