Martha Stewart’s comments about what she overheard Meghan Markle telling guests at a recent dinner party has reportedly opened a can of worms that the Sussexes are now desperately trying to close.
Stewart’s Shade
In a People magazine cover story dated August 3, the domestic diva recounted being at a party with Markle during which the former royal was talking about her recent trip to the U.K. where she met with King Charles and Queen Camilla.
“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,” Stewart told the mag.
“I didn’t talk to her really more than to say a couple of words, but I know she was talking about it,” the 85-year-old domestic diva.
It was in the same interview with People that Stewart suggested Markle’s foray into the lifestyle space has not been seamless. “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. So go from there,” she added.
Markle Fires Back
Stewart’s comments spread like wildfire, which apparently did not sit well with the former Suits star. An “insider” told the Mirror that Stewart “must have been confused” because they were not seated near each other.
According to The Daily Mail, Prince Harry had reportedly agreed not to speak publicly about or release photos from their visit to Highgrove House in Gloucestershire last month, which marked the family’s first audience with the king and queen in four years.
That would likely explain why the As Ever founder’s Instagram post chronicling her “summer holiday” included a much maligned photo believed to show her children walking towards their grandmother Princess Diana’s grave, but nothing from Highgrove.
The source also claimed the trip to the U.K. never specifically came up at the event Stewart and Markle attended; instead insisting Markle only said that she had enjoyed her time in Europe. “Meghan was asked by someone else about her European vacation and said it was nice, and that was the extent of it. I think she must have been confused,” the insider told the Mirror.
Perhaps in an effort to soften the blow of implying an 85-year-old woman misremembered something, the source added: “But we remain fans of Martha.”
Distraction Technique?
Similar refutes of Stewart’s telling popped up in other outlets from “sources” close to Markle, and Megyn, for one, isn’t buying it. “Martha doesn’t spew shit. She gives it straight, and the Duchess of Duplicity couldn’t stand it,” she surmised on Thursday’s Megyn Kelly Show.
“She was so pissed that Martha had taken a shot at her and told everybody that Meghan was mouthing off about her visit with the king that she had… somebody contact [the press],” Megyn said. “Meghan can’t have anything written about her without filing a lawsuit, threatening a lawsuit, having her people call, issuing some nasty barb back, even if it’s an 85 year old who said something very innocuous about her. She can’t stand it.”
The Nerve host Maureen Callahan agreed. “She is her own worst enemy. I completely believe Martha Stewart’s version of events because… she made pains to say, ‘Listen, I don’t know Meghan. I didn’t even really speak to her. We weren’t seated near each other, but this is what I heard.’ And this is in direct contravention of the king’s edict about that meeting,” she noted.
While it remains to be seen how contradicting Stewart, who has shaded Markle’s “authenticity” problems in the past, goes for the With Love, Meghan host, Callahan believes the Sussexes can use it to divert attention from other issues.
“It also kind of is this nice distraction. This is a controversy I feel Meghan wants because she wants us to forget things that are very recent and much more of an obscenity, such as taking a photo of Harry and the children on what looks like their way to visit Diana’s grave,” Callahan concluded. “She’s such a ghoul, and she’s got ice in her veins.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Callahan by tuning in to episode 1,379 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 The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.