'Meghan Markle just went to war with a US legend - possibly her biggest mistake'
Meghan Markle just went to war with a Hollywood legend – it may be her biggest mistake yet
Meghan has lit a fire underneath one of America’s biggest lifestyle gurus, and Chris Riches argues this may not end well for the Duchess of Sussex.
Meghan Markle may have irritated one of America’s biggest names (Image: Getty)
When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto warned of the furious US response: “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” Meghan Markle has already ‘bombed’ a few times in the US, with Netflix axing her cooking show With Love, Meghan and her As Ever brand reportedly struggling, so taking on Hollywood’s food and drink icon may not be a genius move.
Meghan’s no stranger to having public disagreements with Martha Stewart after the 85-year-old rubbished the idea of the Duchess of Sussex being a lifestyle guru overnight. Proving right in hindsight, Ms Stewart said: “If you’re an actress, it’s hard to then transition to a princess and then from a princess into a homemaking guru on a television show. It doesn’t sort of follow.”
Martha’s comments at the time allegedly left Meghan ‘shaken’.
But now Meghan has hit back at Ms Stewart for something else she has said about her – and this could spark a lifestyle media war of words that the Duchess of Sussex simply cannot win.
So what did Ms Stewart say?
She told People: “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 words, but I know she was talking about it.”
The implication is that Meghan may have breached the agreement with Royal Family to keep secret what occurred on her behind-the-scenes trip to the UK last month, when she and Harry and their children had a private meeting at Highgrove with King Charles and Queen Camilla.
Meghan could have stayed quiet – just like the late Queen Elizabeth II’s motto of ‘never complain, never explain.’
It would have blown over. Who really cares?
But instead, a source close to the duchess dismissed the claims and dubbed the cooking star “confused”.
They told the 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 (Ms Stewart) must have been confused.”
Martha Stewart speaks on stage in New York (Image: Getty)
Subsequently, a royal commentator blasted the duchess for letting “sources” set the record straight and start a new row with Ms Stewart.
The Daily Beast’s European Editor at Large, Tom Sykes, said: “If you look carefully at what Martha actually said, she was talking in pretty vague terms.
“She certainly wasn’t claiming Meghan was spilling every last detail of what happened at Highgrove [when the Sussexes met the King].”
Sykes followed up saying Meghan may have done “something incredibly stupid”, by having a source close to her dismiss the claims.
Mr Sykes said: “Implying that Martha, 85, is a dotty old lady is an incredibly stupid thing to do, especially for Meghan, who enjoys very little public goodwill.
“Meghan has made a big, big mistake here, and I don’t think we’ve heard the end of it.”
Despite her age, Martha is supremely streetwise when it comes to Hollywood and the lifestyle industry.
She was jailed in prison for fraud in 2005 after being convicted over the US ImClone stock trading case, and at the time, many thought the TV legend’s career was over.
But she has made a powerful and startling comeback, mainly by being open about the criminal case and even going on comedy shows to laugh at her mistakes and misfortune. America loves a comeback.
Meghan has taken on lifestyle media’s bare-knuckle boxer and Ms Stewart could leave the Duchess of Sussex’s TV show ambitions on the ropes if she’s not careful.