'Dictator Duchess' Meghan Markle's Desperate PR Plan Revealed: How Floundering Ex-Actress Is Fighting for 'Best Boss Ever' Rebrand
Meghan Markle has been branded 'Duchess Difficult"
Sept. 26 2024, Published 4:30 p.m. ET
Meghan Markle's bid to transform her reputation from "Duchess Difficult" to "Best Boss Ever" has hit the skids, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The Duchess of Sussex, 43, and husband Prince Harry, 40, were reportedly angry at recent allegations made in an article published by The Hollywood Reporter describing the former Suits star's management style as like a "dictator in high heels" who reduced grown men to tears" with form for sending angry emails at 5am.
Markle's "puff piece" irked former employees.
"So much so, they responded by allegedly "orchestrating" a reactionary feature in US Weekly, a publication which has historically sided with the Royals.
But the "puff piece", as some critics have called it, has clearly irked their former employees, who've made their feelings known to the Daily Beast.
Meghan has a reputation for being "difficult" in U.K as well as U.S.
An unnamed source is quoted as saying: "I witnessed people being chewed up in person and over the phone and made to feel like s---."
While another former aide added: "I always thought she was a classic narcissist.
"She is lovely when it is all going her way but a demon when the worm turns."
The US Weekly PR-spin was the latest bid by Markle to turn around her increasingly troublesome reputation in the U.S.
In an extraordinary move, five current and former employees of the Duchess of Sussex went on the record to defend her, saying she is the "best boss ever".
Markle's staff told US Weekly she was "dedciated and hard-working".
The article was headlined "What It’s Really Like To Work For Meghan Markle: Staffers Reveal Truth Behind Rumours" and the piece included claims that the Royal gives staff bundles of freshly cut flowers, home-produced eggs, and makes her team "feel like seeds being watered".
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Josh Kettler, Harry's former chief of staff who left after just three months in August, said he was "warmly welcomed" by the Sussexes and called them "dedicated and hardworking".
Ben Browning, Archewell's former head of content – who was responsible for their tell-all Netflix documentary but then left before the end of his contract – said his experience at the company – and with Meghan and Harry in general – "was positive and supportive".
Former employees hit back by telling the Daily Beast Markle made people "feel like s---".
Their current PR chief Ashley Hansen said they treated her with "the kind of concern and care a parent would express if it were their own child" when she took time off for surgery, adding that they also sent flowers and gifts.
She added: "Meghan would personally reach out to my husband daily to make sure that we both were OK and had support. It meant so much to him and even more to me. You don't realize how much that kind of kindness and thought means until you need it."
The article was so positive, it's been alleged Meghan's PR team may have potentially been behind it.
The Hollywood Reporter's co-editor-in-chief Maer Roshan said he stands by the story, which sparked the Sussexes' reaction, the claims from a source close to the couple the claims were "fabricated".
Markle is struggling to shake off "Duchess Difficult" moniker.
Roshan told Access Hollywood: "Our reporter talked to a very high--up source who works for the couple and said: 'Everyone is terrified of Meghan'.
“Duchess Difficult is a nickname that has trailed Meghan Markle for quite a few years.
"What is new is that this notion, since coming to America, that a lot of these rumors were manufactured by the Palace - the reporting that we did suggests that probably isn't true and there is still this undercurrent of fear."
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