Meghan Markle’s ex-best friend suffered a series of blows since reportedly losing touch with the duchess five years ago. Meghan, 43, and Jessica Mulroney, a Canadian fashion stylist and marketing consultant, shared a close bond for years after meeting in 2011.
At the time, Prince Harry’s wife was an actress on Suits, and bonded with Jessica quickly, with the pal going on to play an important role in Meghan and Harry’s 2018 royal wedding, as well as at the Duchess’ New York 2019 baby shower. However, despite sharing a tight bond, their friendship is believed to have come to an end shortly after 2020. As reported by The Sun, Meghan reportedly “dumped” Jessica after the fashion stylist had a PR crisis in 2020.
This came about after she had a dispute with Sasha Exeter over her support for the anti-racism protests sweeping the US, with Exeter claiming that Jessica threatened to damage her career.
The BBC reported that Jessica apologised for this and said she should have done more to speak out against racism.
Messages between Jessica and Exeter also showed the stylist also showed Meghan’s best pal indirectly refer to the duchess in one message, which read: “As I told you privately, I have lived a very public and personal experience with my closest friend where race was front and centre. It was deeply educational. I learned a lot from that.”
The row resulted in the stylist’s reality TV show “I Do, Redo” being removed from Canadian network CTV.
It is believed that Meghan ended her friendship with Jessica not long after the row, with sources claiming to the Sun at the time that Meghan felt Jessica was trying to “make a career out of the friendship”. Jessica has returned into the spotlight in recent days, following reports about the end of her 16-year marriage with husband Ben Mulroney.
An insider has told The Sun: “It didn’t help that Meghan effectively ‘ghosted’ Jessica after 2020, basically cutting her off entirely. Jessica played coy about the end of their friendship for a bit, but at a certain time, she started teasing [that things were over].”
After the 2020 PR crisis, Jessica claimed that Meghan was the “kindest friend”, however it is believed to have marked the end of their friendship.