Meghan Markle has “a strange relationship to objective reality,” Vanity Fair writer Vanessa Grigoriadis said.
The reporter explained that the way Markle and Prince Harry have portrayed the press as an “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 Andrew Gold’s podcasts “On the Edge,” where the journalist 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.”
Meghan Markle’s mom, Doria Ragland, at her daughter’s wedding Getty Images
Meghan Markle’s dad, Thomas MarkleZUMAPRESS.comGrigoriadis 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 Markle, 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 a revealing profile of Markle for the Cut in August.
Markle with Kate Middleton and other members of the royal family at Wimbledon in 2019Getty ImagesIn his the podcast, Gold asked how Markle compares to some of the narcissists and sociopaths that Grigoriadis has encountered in her career, such as while reporting on the NXIVM cult. Grigoriadis said Markle is not a psychopath, but there’s something “off about all of them,” referring to Mrkle and her family.
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 Markle and Harry have characterized their relationship with the press. The couple has painted the tabloids as their main foe, which they spoke about in their infamous Oprah interview and in their Netflix docuseries, “Harry & Meghan.”
Meghan Markle in Los Angeles in MarchMEGA / BACKGRID But according to Grigoriadis, that’s part of how Markle lives in a “warped reality.”
“She was desperate for the press to be interested in her,” she said, describing Markle and Harry’s 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.”
