Meghan Markle has “a strange relationship to objective reality,” Vanity Fair writer Vanessa Grigoriadis said.
The reporter concluded that the way Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have portrayed the press as this “enormous monster” they must battle is too convenient.
Grigoriadis, who profiled Markle in 2018 with a focus on her parents Doria Ragland and Thomas Markle, appeared on ex-BBC journalist Andrew Gold’s podcasts On the Edge. She shared her thoughts about the duchess from her media insider’s perspective.
“She has this warped reality and then she marshals evidence underneath it to support a thesis that may not be the case,” said Grigoriadis.
She described Markle as a “striver” who wanted to be a “household name” and rise above her family’s “shaggy dog tale” life. Over the course of doing that, Markle struggled with “authenticity.”
Grigoriadis revealed that while she was reporting on Markle, she spoke to some acquaintances who described the former “Suits” star as somebody who seems warm and friendly, but isn’t “someone you can be friends with.”
Without sharing their name, Grigoriadis also referred to a writer colleague who spent a day with Meghan, and said that this colleague’s takeaway was, ” ‘This person just is not on the level.’ ”
There is some speculation that the unnamed writer is Allison P. Davis, who wrote The Cut profile on Markle.
During the podcast, Gold asked how Markle compares to some of the narcissists and sociopaths that Grigoriadis has encountered in her career, while reporting on other subjects such as the NXIVM cult. Grigoriadis said Markle is not a psychopath, but regarding Markle and her family, she concluded that there’s something “off about all of them.”
Grigoriadis also revealed that while she was writing her 2018 Vanity Fair profile, an editor told her, “We’re not going to say anything negative about Meghan.”
This stands in stark contrast to how Prince Harry and Markle have characterized their relationship with the press. The couple has painted the tabloids as their main foe, which they’ve spoken out in their infamous Oprah interview, and in their Netflix documentary, “Harry And Meghan.”
But according to Grigoriadis, that’s part of how Markle has “warped reality.”
“She was desperate for the press to be interested in her,” she said, describing their battles with the press as “an ace up the hole” for the couple because any press manipulation that they themselves engage in is now “justified.”