As the world awaits the initial offerings from Meghan Markle’s new lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, the former Suits star is keeping her name in the news.
Late last month, Markle visited the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to read to some of the patients and now we are getting a look at pictures and videos from the trip.
On Thursday’s show, Megyn was joined by Daily Mail columnist Maureen Callahan to discuss the duchess’ charity work and why there always seems to be a camera in tow.
The Charity Work
Markle apparently paid a visit to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles on back on March 21 as part of the “#MakeMarchMatter campaign” where she led a “Literally Healing” session.
The hospital shared photos of the event on social media earlier this week, noting that “CHLA patients and their families were treated to a very special Literally Healing story time with Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex.” According to the statement, “they were laughing and singing as she read patient favorites like Rosie Revere, Engineer, Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons, and They All Saw a Cat.”
In a video of the visit, Markle showed the children gathered the cover of one of the books and told them it was “one of my favorites.” The mom of two also “helped kids with activities tied to each book that let kids explore counting, colors, problem solving, and more.”
‘It Just Feels Cynical’
While the Children’s Hospital L.A. social media feeds are filled with pictures of various celebrities and public figures, Megyn and Callahan said Markle’s history of self-promotion raises eyebrows. “So, have you ever done a charity event and then you run and make sure that everybody gets to see it in the video, and promote it, and make sure they know you did the charity event,” Megyn asked. “Because that seems to be her pattern.”
The only thing that was surprising to Callahan about the situation was that Markle was not reading her own children’s book in the promotional footage. “I cannot look at anything she does without looking at it through the prism of who and what she’s trying to poke,” she explained. “Kate Middleton, as we know, is very sick with cancer. This one shows up at a children’s hospital. You know, it just feels cynical. It feels like ‘look at me, look how magnanimous I am.’”
That opinion, Callahan said, is informed by Markle’s past behavior. “This is the same woman who, uninvited, took a camera crew down to Uvalde, Texas, [in the aftermath of the 2022 school shooting],” she recalled. “You want to talk about a sacred space… She had zero business being there.”
In Megyn’s view, everything Prince Harry and Markle do “has a camera attached to it” for a reason. “I’m a public figure. I do charitable work. I don’t put it all over the internet unless the person asks me to promote it to draw attention,” she explained. “There are a lot of charitable things that… well-known people do and you don’t see us saying, ‘I really would love you to give me credit for it because what I’m doing here is really promoting myself.'”
Ultimately, that’s what Megyn thinks the intention is. “That’s what she is doing in my view because that’s what she always does,” she concluded. “You can take it to the bank.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Callahan by tuning in to episode 757 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.