EXCLUSIVE: Meghan Markle Criticized Over 'Stupid' Move in 'Martha Stewart Clash'

Stewart said she barely spoke directly to the Duchess of Sussex but heard her discussing the visit – only for a source close to Markle to subsequently describe Stewart as apparently "confused."

"This could have been a minor clash at best, and disappeared almost immediately, but challenging Martha's recollection has given the story another life," the insider claimed. "The criticism is that Meghan's camp appears to have turned something relatively insignificant into a confrontation with one of America's most famous lifestyle personalities by leaking a response."

Stewart had described encountering Markle while discussing the duchess' return from Britain.

She said: "I had dinner with Meghan Markle the other night. We were both guests at a dinner party in California. And she had just gotten back from the palace. I didn't talk to her really more than to say a couple of words, but I know she was talking about it."

Days later, an unnamed source close to Markle disputed Stewart's version of events.

The insider told the Daily Mirror: "Meghan was asked by someone else about her European vacation and said it was nice, and that was the extent of it. I think she must have been confused."

The intervention prompted criticism from commentators, including one who argued Stewart had initially made only a vague observation.

A source said: "Martha's original comments were hardly an explosive revelation. She wasn't suggesting Meghan had sat at dinner divulging intimate conversations with the King or giving everyone a blow-by-blow account of what happened behind closed doors at Highgrove. It was a fairly casual observation about what she believed she'd heard."

The insider added: "The extraordinary thing is that it could simply have been left there. Instead, having someone associated with Meghan apparently publicly question Martha's memory turned a harmless anecdote into an argument over which woman was telling the more accurate version of events.

"Taking on Martha over something this trivial looks like an unnecessary own goal, and frankly rather stupid. She's an enormously established figure in America with decades of credibility behind her, so suggesting that she somehow became muddled about a straightforward dinner-party conversation was always going to attract attention."

They noted, "It also risks coming across as needlessly dismissive of an 85-year-old woman. Meghan already generates intense scrutiny whenever her team pushes back against stories, and critics will inevitably ask why there was any need to correct Martha so publicly when her comments were neither particularly damaging nor especially detailed.

"What might have disappeared after one news cycle has now been given a completely different dimension. Instead of people discussing Martha's passing recollection, they're debating whether Meghan's side overreacted and whether there is now genuine tension between two major names in the American lifestyle world."

Another source said the public contradiction risked transforming a fleeting celebrity anecdote into a bigger controversy.

They added: "Martha hadn't accused Meghan of revealing explosive royal secrets. By publicly pushing back, Meghan's side inevitably created a question about whose recollection was accurate – and suddenly people were talking about a feud that otherwise might never have existed."