Is Meghan Markle mean to her employees? Well, it depends who you ask. While some anonymous ex-staffers have painted her as a horror, others, including a former bodyguard, have piped up to say otherwise.
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00:00Is Meghan Markle mean to her employees? Well, it depends who you ask. While some anonymous
00:05ex-staffers have painted her as a horror, others, including a former bodyguard, have
00:10piped up to say otherwise.
00:13Meghan became the Duchess of Sussex when she married Prince Harry in 2018, but even before
00:18they made it official, she was already the subject of all kinds of negative coverage
00:22in the British press. She's truly gotten it all, from finger-wagging for times she allegedly
00:27broke royal protocol during engagements, to comments about her race, to criticism about
00:32how often she cradled her baby bump when she was pregnant.
00:36One accusation that Meghan has been unable to shake off was that she was a bad boss,
00:40which resulted in her being branded Duchess Difficult.
00:43This reputation for being difficult was linked to an unusually high turnover of staff at
00:50the palace."
00:51The Hollywood Reporter noted that 18 of Meghan and Harry's aides have left their service
00:55over the past six years.
00:58Meghan's most ardent fans have simply brushed the contention that the turnover was the result
01:02of Meghan treating staff poorly off as another malicious rumor, but after she and Harry bid
01:07goodbye to royal life, even darker allegations about her alleged mistreatment of staff have
01:12surfaced and become much more difficult to avoid.
01:15Meghan has vehemently denied bullying allegations first reported in 2021, just days before her
01:21Oprah Winfrey sit-down.
01:23The Times of London reported that an email from Meghan's former communications director
01:27read in part,
01:28"...I am very concerned that the Duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household
01:32in the past year."
01:34"...Samantha Cohen accused Meghan and Harry of treating her horribly, that she said that
01:38working for them was like working for teenagers."
01:42New claims emerged in a September 2024 article in The Hollywood Reporter.
01:46The outlet quoted an anonymous Sussex aide as saying,
01:49"...everyone's terrified of Meghan."
01:52At least one former staffer has jumped to Meghan's defense, though.
01:55Steve Davies, who was part of Meghan's security detail in Toronto in early 2018, told In Touch
02:01Weekly that the Duchess always treated staff with kindness, saying,
02:05"...There's one huge lesson I learned from her.
02:07It's give respect to get respect.
02:10Nobody had a bad word to say about her.
02:12Even with the pressure that she was under, she was warm and considerate all the time."
02:17Davies and other staffers who recently spoke up in defense of the former Suits star say
02:21she does her best to maintain a friendly relationship with ex-employees, even after they part ways.
02:27Davies told In Touch that the Duchess still takes time to message him on major occasions
02:31and that he would take another job for Meghan in a heartbeat if given the chance.
02:36Other former employees who have spoken up on Meghan's behalf include Ben Browning, a
02:40former executive at the couple's production company Archwell, and ex-chief of staff Catherine
02:45St. Laurent.
02:46Both spoke to Us Weekly in September 2024.
02:50Browning said they, quote, "...all continue to be friends," while St. Laurent shared that
02:54she remained close to the Duke and Duchess after she stepped down as the executive director
02:58of their charity in 2021.