I’ll admit it, when I started paying attention to Chappell Roan a few months ago, she pinged my radar. I thought she came across – in interviews and public statements – like an ignorant, navel-gazing brat. Looks like my gut reaction to her was pretty accurate, because she’s shown her whole ass this week. I think her recent Rolling Stone interview got the ball rolling, and I’m honestly shocked that some of her comments did not get wider play, especially the part where she suggested that President Biden would come after her and her Republican family. Then the Guardian published an interview with Roan over the weekend, and her statements like “There’s problems on both sides” have been going viral for days.

Then, on Tuesday night, Chappell made a TikTok in which she talked in circles about political endorsements and people needing to do their own research. She did say she wasn’t voting for Donald Trump, but she made a point of refusing to say that she planned to vote for Kamala Harris, nor did she endorse Harris or anyone else. Her word salad was, to me, Aaron Rodgers-esque and I wrote, half-jokingly, that she sounded like a typical Jill Stein voter. Because Chappell and her music have gotten so much attention this year, her TikTok and this whole issue have really exploded on social media and she’s gotten a lot of (well-deserved) criticism. So, Roan made another TikTok. In this one, she does say that she’s voting for Kamala Harris, all while mispronouncing “Kamala.” She also says outright that she cannot stand by the “completely transphobic views” of the LEFT. What are we doing here?

Oh my god she’s at it again pic.twitter.com/1tSIDNMf3C

— Stephen (@dcsteve5) September 25, 2024

You can tell that she thinks she’s making some bold, iconoclastic point when she says that a political endorsement doesn’t mean that a person will actually vote the way they’ve endorsed. LMAO. News at seven, your vote is private! *Morally superior voice* Did you know that you can say something publicly and not follow through privately? BOTH SIDES!!

How is this DO YOUR RESEARCH person the same one spreading misinformation about the Democratic position on trans rights? Not to mention, Chappell Roan refused to do her research on how to pronounce “Kamala.” But I digress. If you are a young queer woman and you are incapable of voting for the broad interests of all women and all LGBTQ people, then you are the one who needs to educate yourself.

Taylor Swift had more to lose with her endorsement than Chappell Roan.

She endorsed because she knew what was at stake. Not endorsing isn’t a flex.

— D (@dilemmv) September 25, 2024

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Lady Gaga (@ladygaga)

We’ve just entered Libra season with a Gaga moon rising! Our Lady has been rolling out a fairly low-key promo campaign (by Gaga standards) ahead of Joker: Folie à Deux, which comes out next week. Or so she had us fooled! Because it turns out she’s been lining up all sorts of releases that are about to drop in connection with the film. Shortly after Joker premiered in Venice last month, Gaga was seen filming at the Louvre in Paris, sporting a “Punk Raggedy Ann Doll” look. Rumors swirled that it was a music video for LG7, which she revealed is finally coming in February. But no! This shoot was for a teaser to promote another surprise: Gaga made what she calls a Joker “companion album” called Harlequin, and it’s coming out on Friday! The album includes 13 tracks from Broadway and the Great American Songbook (GAS!) that are featured in the film, but these are not the recordings from the film (more on that later). And if you stopped processing details after “Gaga – New Album – Friday,” it’s ok, I’m right there with you. Here’s what we know:

Harlequin could well be a stop-gap release between Chromatica and Lady Gaga’s long-teased seventh studio album. Its announcement arrives at the same time as billboards for “LG6.5,” and the singer has taken to calling her next album, apparently due in February, “LG7.” In addition, some of the Harlequin song titles — such as “Oh, When the Saints,” “World on a String,” “If My Friends Could See Me Now,” and “That’s Life” — indicate that it could be a sort of covers album.

Harlequin is one of two Joker-adjacent albums that comes out on Friday. The other is Hildur Guðnadóttir’s Joker: Folie à Deux (Score From the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).

Joker: Folie à Deux, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, hits theaters on October 4. Lady Gaga will release another album that day, too: Joker: Folie à Deux (Music From the Motion Picture).

Harlequin:
01 Good Morning
02 Get Happy (2024)
03 Oh, When the Saints
04 World on a String
05 If My Friends Could See Me Now
06 That’s Entertainment
07 Smile
08 The Joker
09 Folie à Deux
10 Gonna Build a Mountain
11 Close to You
12 Happy Mistake
13 That’s Life

[From Pitchfork]

Yes, that reporting is right, there are indeed three different Joker 2 albums coming our way. This Friday, September 27, we’re getting Harlequin, which is Gaga singing her own renditions of songs that are in the movie. Also this Friday, the official film score soundtrack comes out. Hildur Guðnadóttir returns as composer — she made history in 2020 with her Oscar win for Joker, becoming the first woman to win since the category combined comedy and drama film scores together. Hildur’s music is eerie and edgy and really thrives in bleak, sinister worlds (Prisoners, Chernobyl, Women Talking, Tár) and I only wish we had an original song collab between her and Gaga! So that’s two albums; we get the third next Friday October 4, the same day the movie comes out. That album is all the songs Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix sing in the film in character.

Why are they separating the score and songs from the same film soundtrack? To make more money! I can’t say for certain. But I can understand Gaga wanting to make Harlequin so she can really belt out those numbers. She’s spoken frequently during her press about how she had to unlearn her training to sing as Lee. So going back to the teaser she just dropped, it’s about a minute of her singing “The Joker,” from everyone’s favorite 1960s musical The Roar of the Greasepaint — The Smell of the Crowd. (And if you know that show, I love you.) I first heard “The Joker” as an impressionable college freshman when a family friend changed the trajectory of my life by introducing me to the daffy Australian comedy Kath & Kim, where “The Joker” was played over the opening credits. Since then I have been amassing a playlist of pretty much every version of the song I can track down (and that involves sifting through a lot of Steve Miller Band on iTunes, let me tell you). I’ve got Sammy Davis, Jr., Herbie Mann, Sergio Mendes, Wes Montgomery, obviously Anthony Newley from the original musical (he also wrote the song!), and of course, the incomparable Dame Shirley Bassey. I have been bouncing off the walls (in my own sedentary fashion) that in a mere 24 hours I will be able to add Lady Gaga to that list.

Photos credit: DT/Click News and Media/Backgrid and via Instagram

Gwyneth Paltrow & Brad Falchuk are celebrating their anniversary in Paris, and Gwyneth went to the PFW Saint Laurent show. [LaineyGossip]
A calendar full of Aussie firefighters? Oh. [Socialite Life]
Did NBC even put it out there that Brilliant Minds is loosely based on Dr. Oliver Sacks? But I agree, the show is probably doing him dirty. [Pajiba]
I feel like we’re about to see a lot of this Versace collection on red carpets this fall, especially that vomit-green dress. [Go Fug Yourself]
Ryan Murphy defends his show about the Menendez brothers. [OMG Blog]
Did Kim Porter write a book before her death? [Just Jared]
Amy Ryan, that bodice ruffle is not great. [RCFA]
Adam Sandler’s dog (?) is so cute. [Seriously OMG]
More DV stories on 90 Day Fiance. [Starcasm]
Happy National Daughters Day. [Hollywood Life]
I hate men like this but at least men are having these conversations with other men, men who call them out for being jackasses. [Buzzfeed]

Prince William and Kate’s staffers have been trying to smear the Duchess of Sussex for more than six years. Their few specific complaints about Meghan were always ridiculous: Meghan looked at a staffer and made her cry; Meghan sent 5 am emails; Meghan was prepared for meetings and she assigned tasks. What was less ridiculous and more insidious, racist and sexist was the broad character assassination with zero evidence: that Meghan “bullied” staffers, that she was an unhinged diva, that she marched around, screaming at people. When similar smears popped up in the Hollywood Reporter’s September 12th piece, it pinged a lot of radars. We’re currently in a cycle where Archewell’s former and current staffers are coming out on the record to talk about what Meghan is really like as a boss (completely lovely), and this should be solely about Archewell and an American business and charity. Except William and Kate can’t help but chime in, via their asinine courtiers. Here’s the Daily Beast’s latest:

Meghan Markle was a “demon” who had “psycho moments” as a boss, people who worked for her have told The Daily Beast.

The former employees spoke out after a carefully curated crop of former and current staffers said she was the best boss ever, who gives her staff bundles of freshly cut flowers and home-produced eggs, and makes her staff feel like seeds being watered. The delightful portrait of Meghan’s management style was painted in Us Weekly on Tuesday, as Team Meghan launched a fightback against a report in The Hollywood Reporter that claimed Meghan was a “dictator in high heels” who reduced “grown men to tears.” Sources close to the couple denied that story as a “fabrication” to The Daily Beast last week.

However, one courtier who worked for Meghan and Prince Harry as part of their service at the palace told The Daily Beast: “There have been plenty of difficult royals over the years, and I do think that after the ill-feeling of Megxit, Meghan’s bad moments were amplified and distorted and blown out of proportion. Princess Margaret regularly got people to hold out their hands to use as ashtrays, for example, and that’s just laughed off as hilarious eccentricity. Look at Andrew, he was unbelievable to the staff. That said, there definitely were bad, very bad, even psycho moments. I witnessed people being chewed up in person and over the phone and made to feel like s–t. But it was an incredibly fraught time and I’m inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt. She has said herself she was suicidal at times.”

The source pointed out that Jason Knauf, who was press secretary to Meghan when she was a royal, complained about her.

[From The Daily Beast]

“That said, there definitely were bad, very bad, even psycho moments. I witnessed people being chewed up in person and over the phone and made to feel like s–t.” So still no specifics then? After six years, they still haven’t figured out a plausible and specific lie about Meghan’s exact “psycho” behavior. This isn’t the first time that unnamed courtiers have even suggested this kind of thing – people forget that William and his people told Robert Lacey that Meghan is a unhinged sociopath, then they repeated the same thing to Valentine Low. Someone’s behavior here is psychotic and it’s not Meghan.

“Made to feel like sh-t” – I don’t even believe that. I think Meghan felt unsafe on a daily basis and whenever she asked for some kind of accountability for what they were doing to her, she was harmed and targeted even further. That’s exactly what’s playing out now as “courtiers” try to piggyback on whatever the hell is going on with the Hollywood Reporter.

Top ten stories about Prince William lying and manipulating the press

Prince William has a long history of lying and manipulating the press. Get the top ten stories about this when you sign up for our mailing list!

– Katie at Celebitchy

Email

First Name

Subscribe

Loading…

Thank you!

You have successfully joined our subscriber list.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid.

The Hollywood Reporter published their “Why Hollywood Keeps Quitting on Harry and Meghan” piece on September 12. The NY Post picked up the story quickly, but it took a week for the British media to really start circulating it. In THR’s piece, it felt like some very misogynoir smears were being recycled from the 2018-19 era, when Meghan and Harry were living in the UK and being subjected to a full hate campaign from the palace and press. There were mentions, in the Hollywood Reporter piece, of “5 am emails” and “Duchess Difficult” and “the Sussex Survivors Club” of former staff members. One source told THR: “She’s absolutely relentless. She marches around like a dictator in high heels, fuming and barking orders. I’ve watched her reduce grown men to tears.”

I was really concerned that the Sussexes would do the same thing they did last year about Spotify and Bill Simmons: absolutely nothing. I worried that they would stick their heads in the sand and ignore the festering wound to their professional reputations in America. Thankfully, they’re pushing back – Us Weekly’s cover story this week is full of first-person accounts of named former staffers, all talking about how the Sussexes are lovely, considerate and thoughtful bosses. Unfortunately, this week, suddenly people are talking about an Access Hollywood interview. Access Hollywood did an interview with Maer Roshan, co-editor-in-chief of THR. The Mail picked up the interview:

A US report claiming Meghan Markle is a ‘dictator in high heels’ came from someone ‘very high up’ still working for the couple, a senior journalist has claimed. The source said that Meghan ‘doesn’t take advice’ and has reduced ‘grown men to tears’, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Maer Roshan, Co-Editor in Chief of the publication, has said he stands by the story after a backlash amongst supporters and friends including one Sussex source who said the claims were ‘fabricated’. Meghan herself has also always denied claims of bullying staff.

Mr Roshan believes that their insider has revealed that it ‘probably isn’t true’ that claims Meghan is ‘difficult’ to work with and the nickname ‘Duchess Difficult’ were ‘manufactured’ by the Palace after Megxit. The allegations about her behaviour emerged in a piece on the exodus of staff who have worked for the Sussexes, including the couple’s chief of staff Josh Kettler who resigned from his role in August after just three months.

Mr Roshan told Access Hollywood: ‘Our reporter talked to a very high up source who works for the couple and said: “Everyone is terrified of Meghan”.

‘Duchess Difficult is a nickname that has trailed Meghan Markle for quite a few years. What is new is that this notion, since coming to America, that a lot of these rumours were manufactured by the Palace and the reporting that we did suggests that probably isn’t true and there is still this undercurrent of fear’.

Mr Roshan told Access Hollywood: ‘Two things can be possible at once. The couple does help a lot of people. Meghan and Harry declined to comment on our story. I think Meghan would have said that barking around orders is something that we expect from men and it would never raise an eyebrow’.

[From The Daily Mail]

I think it’s notable that THR is standing by their reporting and the EIC is saying no, we have a source here in America who currently works for Harry and Meghan. A lot of people wanted to believe that this was “commissioned” or manufactured by the British media (I saw that a lot in the comments), but THR doesn’t work like that. They’re not, like, Fox News. I’m not saying that I believe THR’s story or anything, but I believe something else is going on here. For the EIC to back up their reporting and stand by their source? It’s really strange. I’m also reminded of that weirdness around Archewell’s “delinquent” status because of a missing check, which was bizarrely publicized too, remember that? My Spidey sense is telling me that there’s a mole in Archewell.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

In Queen Elizabeth II’s day, people would complain all the time about the cost of the monarchy and all of the low-ranking royals who all got to live in palace apartments on the taxpayers’ dime. But there was also a sense that the Windsors were a big, eccentric clan and there was something for everyone, even if you didn’t care much for the institution as a whole. Crash cut to September 2024, two years into King Charles’s reign, and it feels like the wheels have come off. Charles has cancer and he looks kind of awful. Camilla is simply evil. Prince William is too lazy to work and grow a beard at the same time. And god knows what’s going on with Kate. There are still random royals littered around, but it just feels like the monarchy is less relevant than ever and they’re not even providing much in the way of “service” to their people. Perfect moment for a huge salary bump, eh?

The cost of the grant that funds the monarchy is due to increase by more than 53% in the next year to £132m – a rise of £45m.

Official royal accounts released earlier this year revealed that huge profits of over £1bn from the crown estate mean the taxpayer-funded sovereign grant, which pays for the royal family’s official duties, will increase from £86.3m in 2024-25 to £132m in 2025-26.

Republic, an anti-monarchy organisation that campaigns for a British republic, has analysed the “true cost” of the royal family to the public and claimed that it now exceeds £500m a year.

Officials said the extra cash will be funnelled into the decade-long, £369m update to Buckingham Palace. Graham Smith, chief executive of Republic, said: “If [the chancellor] Rachel Reeves thinks tough decisions are needed in these difficult times, she needs to start with the royals. We’re being told the budget will be painful. Well, if that’s true, the cuts must start at the top. How can we talk about cutting the winter fuel allowance while wasting half a billion pounds on the royals?”

Republic claims the largest portion of the money, £150m, was spent on royal security and a further £96m in “lost revenue”, the report claims, as royal residences “occupied by the royal family cannot be used to their full potential by the state”.

[From The Guardian]

I’m not going to pretend to understand what money is being spent on security, palace upkeep, staffing and more, but I agree with Republic that a lot of costs are being hidden because they’re not technically being taken out of the SG. The Sovereign Grant supposedly pays for Charles, Camilla and everyone other than the Prince and Princess of Wales. QEII made the SG “stretch” to support various cousins and distant relations, in addition to her other children’s lives, spouses, offices and staffs. But in KC3’s reign, he’s pinching pennies and pushing family members out of their homes and apartments. You know he’s cutting off a lot of funds from a lot of his family members. So the family has “retracted,” especially in visibility. Why isn’t the SG also retracting? I know why on a technical level – it’s because so much money is coming in from “royal land.” Not just rentals and farms, but wind farms have been massively profitable for the Crown. Instead of the government simply taking the windfall, they’re passing it on to Charles, to do with as he sees fit. It’s bizarre.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Buckingham Palace.

Last weekend, Prince William and Kate apparently enjoyed a “kids-free” holiday at Balmoral, with King Charles and Queen Camilla. Yesterday, I asked you guys why would William and Kate go, especially considering that their kids are back in school. Many of us believed that the Waleses were summoned and that plans were hatched. My theory was that the plan was specifically about how to deal with Prince Harry’s New York trip and upcoming visit to London (Harry will likely arrive in London this coming weekend). I also think Charles, Camilla, William and Kate hatched some kind of plan for how they would try to get attention this week. Speaking of, the Princess of Wales had another private meeting at Windsor Castle, a meeting which was dutifully added to the Court Circular. Pics or it didn’t happen.

The Princess of Wales has begun planning her Christmas carol concert, it is understood, as she appears in the Court Circular for the second time during her recovery from chemotherapy. The Princess is listed in the official record of Royal family engagements as having held a meeting at Windsor Castle on Tuesday morning.

It is understood to have been a discussion about planning for her fourth annual Westminster Abbey carol concert, hosted personally by the Princess for children and their families. The event has become part of the royal calendar, with the Princess joined annually by her husband, the Prince of Wales, and their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, for the televised event.

It is one of two public events that the Princess has signalled she hopes to attend this year, health permitting. The other is an appearance to observe the Remembrance service at the Cenotaph in November.

The Court Circular for Tuesday Sept 24 states: “The Princess of Wales, Joint Patron, the Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales, this morning held a Meeting at Windsor Castle.”

[From The Telegraph]

While I predict that Kate will make it to the Remembrance Day balcony AND the Christmas piano recital, it’s interesting to me that no one is saying that Kate will also appear with her family on Christmas Day at Sandringham. I have no doubt she’ll be there as well, but I guess no one likes to remind the public that Kate considers that a work event too, walking to church on Christmas. Anyway, as I said, pics or it didn’t happen. Kate has very little to do with organizing the concert, it’s all done by staff and it was just something given to Kate to make her look busy. She probably won’t even prerecord her own piano recital this year, boooo.

Photos courtesy of Instar, Cover Images, Avalon Red, Kensington Palace.

Chappell Roan was recently profiled by Rolling Stone, and I personally thought she came across as very immature overall, and quite uninformed about politics. She heavily implied that President Biden would come after her and her family for speaking about Palestine, she spoke lovingly about her Republican family and she refused to endorse any candidate. Then, a few days ago, she spoke to the Guardian and this section got a lot of attention:

…And even though Kamala Harris used her deliriously goofy Femininomenon in a campaign video (“What we really need is a femininomenon!”) and seemingly copied the design of an official Roan baseball cap, Roan hasn’t endorsed her. And, in June, while dressed as Lady Liberty, Roan told the crowd at Governor’s Ball festival in New York that she had declined an invitation to perform at a White House Pride event: “We want liberty, justice and freedom for all. When you do that, that’s when I’ll come.”

“I have so many issues with our government in every way,” she says. “There are so many things that I would want to change. So I don’t feel pressured to endorse someone. There’s problems on both sides. I encourage people to use your critical thinking skills, use your vote – vote small, vote for what’s going on in your city.” The change she wants to see in the US in this election year, she says instantly, is “trans rights. They cannot have cis people making decisions for trans people, period.”

[From The Guardian]

I cannot even adequately put into words the contempt I have for people saying “There’s problems on both sides.” If you, like Roan, consider trans rights the most important issue of this election and YOU STILL WON’T VOTE FOR HARRIS-WALZ, then you’re just an attention-seeking a–hole. Well, people have been talking sh-t about Roan all week, and now she’s made a new TikTok about all of this:

Chappell Roan explains her political beliefs in a new TikTok video, offering clarification on what she meant in previous statements. pic.twitter.com/auoFuOpohe

— Pop Flop (@PopFlopHQ) September 25, 2024

All of what she says about critical thinking reminds me so heavily of the “do your own research” anti-vaxxer talking points. Like, that whole section really resonated with Aaron Rodgers. “Actions speak louder than words and actions speak louder than an endorsement.” I never thought I’d say this, but damn, Taylor Swift endorsing the Harris-Walz ticket really was a profile in courage, right? Taylor’s endorsement was thoughtful and mature, even more so when confronted with a wannabe LGBTQ advocate who thinks “both sides” have problems. And: “Hear it from my mouth, no, I’m not voting for Trump and yes, I will always question those in power and those making decisions over other people.” Another Jill Stein voter.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

As I was looking through the photos of Prince Harry speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative, it struck me that CopyEgg is probably screaming down the phone at Mike Bloomberg, demanding that Bloomberg arrange a meeting or a photo-op with Bill Clinton. You know it’s probably already happened. The call, I mean. Anyway, Harry was at CGI on Tuesday, speaking about Archewell’s newly formed Parents Network. The Parents Network’s aim is providing tools and resources for parents trying to navigate their kids’ online lives and the dangers of social media:

Prince Harry said today’s youth is in the midst of an “epidemic” of anxiety, depression and social isolation due to negative experiences online, as he brought his campaign to help children and their parents navigate cyberspace to this week’s Clinton Global Initiative.

“These platforms are designed to create addiction,” Harry, 40, said in remarks Tuesday in New York City. “Young people are kept there by mindless, endless, numbing scrolling — being force-fed content that no child should ever be exposed to. This is not free will.”

Beyond supporting parents and youth throughout this advocacy, The Duke of Sussex stressed the need for corporate accountability. He asked why leaders of powerful social media companies are still held to the “lowest ethical standards” — and called on shareholders to demand tangible change.

“Parenting doesn’t end with the birth of a child. Neither does founding a company,” said Harry, who revealed that his smartphone lock screen is a photo of his children, five-year-old Prince Archie and three-year-old Princess Lilibet. “We have a duty and a responsibility to see our creations through.”

[From AP]

I’m including one of the videos of his speech below – nearly every British outlet ran a live stream of CGI so that their viewers and readers could watch Harry. The Daily Beast’s coverage focused on Harry saying that his lockscreen is of his two children, and then they suggested that Harry “publicly reinforced his status as a family man and his commitment to his children… pushing back against narratives by some critics hinting that he was happy to be spending a week away from his family.” As in, the British media is trying to make “Harry’s business trip to New York” into yet another hyped-up narrative that there are problems in the Sussex marriage. Please. Unless those same people are prepared to do a similar dive on the Wales marriage, they need to zip it.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

On September 12, the Hollywood Reporter published an incredibly bizarre “Rambling Reporter” piece called “Why Hollywood Keeps Quitting on Harry and Meghan.” This was not the first time THR launched a broadside against the Sussexes, but this piece was particularly strange and bile-filled. Unnamed sources insisted that the Duchess of Sussex was a hellish boss who ran around the office, screaming at people and creating low morale. THR wrote that Meghan has a “reported penchant for noisy tantrums and angry 5 a.m. emails [which] has earned her the in-house moniker ‘Duchess Difficult.’” One source told THR: “She’s absolutely relentless. She marches around like a dictator in high heels, fuming and barking orders. I’ve watched her reduce grown men to tears.” A day later, the NY Post picked up the story, and then last week, the Mail ran a version of the story too.

As I was covering this stuff, I said once again that these are the kinds of stories which need pushback. The British media throws sh-t at the wall on a daily basis – I understand why the Sussexes give the silent treatment to outlets like the Mail and the Sun. But THR is a trade paper and their “reporting” mimicked those British smears in an American accent. It needed to be dealt with, and dealt with in a smarter way than “ignoring it and hoping it goes away.” Some people yelled at me for suggesting that the Sussexes need to be more proactive about these kinds of things, but I maintain: they need to fight back especially because it involves their business. These crazy conspiracies about who “ordered” THR’s story and why H&M should continue to be silent weren’t working either – that’s absolutely the wrong way to deal with it. And finally, the Sussexes have done something. They authorized their former and current staffers to speak to Us Weekly. Some highlights:

Ben Browning, their former head of content: He says his experience at the company and with Meghan and Harry in general “was positive and supportive… we all continue to be friends. The narratives we’ve seen suggesting the contrary are untrue.” Onetime chief of staff Catherine St-Laurent tells Us she and the couple have also “remained close” and says, “The time I spent working with Prince Harry and Meghan was incredibly meaningful to me.”

Josh Kettler spoke to Us: While Josh Kettler’s August departure as Harry’s chief of staff sparked more negative press, he says he was “warmly welcomed” by both Harry and Meghan and the Archewell team during his stint. “They are dedicated and hardworking,” he tells Us of the pair. “It was impressive to witness.”

Ashley Hansen, Archewell global press secretary: “When I told them [I needed surgery], I was met with the kind of concern and care a parent would express if it were their own child. I was asked what I needed, how and if they could help, and told to take as much time as I needed.” Hansen says Harry and Meghan sent flowers and care packages, “but most profoundly to me, Meghan would personally reach out to my husband daily to make sure that we both were OK and had support. It meant so much to him and even more to me. You don’t realize how much that kind of kindness and thought means until you need it.”

Growing pains: There’s little doubt the company — which employs a small team of roughly 16 full-time employees and is comprised of the Archewell Foundation (their charitable nonprofit), a production side (which deals with audio work like podcasts and their Netflix deal) and communications (Markle’s new lifestyle brand is a separate entity) — has had some growing pains. “Archewell is not unlike a start-up; it’s relatively young,” says Hansen, adding, “Two things can be equally true: you can be a great leader and still have turnover. No boss or company is immune to that.”

An anonymous staffer: “People leave at any company — they get new opportunities, change their careers or feel their role isn’t the right fit. They also sometimes get let go. Those decisions are part of doing business.” The current anonymous staffer says colleagues have been “dumbfounded by the claims… It’s clear where this type of commentary is coming from. It’s likely made up from someone who’s disgruntled.” Browning tells Us the narrative is “simply a predictable attempt at creating intrigue through sewing false conflict.”

The office culture is positive. “This is the first company I’ve worked [where I] liked every person,” says the source. “Harry and Meghan picked the best of the best from every field and watered the seeds for them to flourish. We have an enormous microscope on us. But good things are happening.”

Acts of kindness from the Sussexes: “When I adopted my dog, the next day, I had a luxury brand leash and new collar on my doorstep,” says the former staffer, who adds that parents-to-be are given brand-new gifts and top-notch secondhand stuff from the couple themselves “like unused car seats and baby items they no longer need.” During the Colombia trip, the duke and duchess texted a team leader to take everyone out for drinks. “They want to take care of us,” the current employee says. “Meghan will do things like, ‘You mentioned on the call your skin is bothering you, I put together a kit for you.’” And during team visits to the couple’s Montecito home, no one departs empty-handed. “Whenever staff goes to their house, they leave with a basket with fresh flowers, fresh fruit, fresh eggs,” the staffer says.

Meghan is not tantrum-prone: As for rumors of Meghan’s penchant for tantrums, the current staffer says they have “never” heard her yell, explaining that the duchess “gives clear direction and is solution-oriented.” And those reports of firing off demanding emails at 5 a.m.? Meghan’s official email signature reads: “My working day may not be your working day. Please do not feel obliged to reply to this email outside your normal working hours.”

Mandana Dayani speaks: “Part of the profound injustice of having to speak publicly on this in light of these endless and damaging narratives is that so much of the kindness, mentorship, and support that Prince Harry and Meghan share with others happens quietly behind closed doors,” says Mandana Dayani, who served as the president of Archewell for 18 months in 2021 and 2022. “I’ll never forget sitting on the floor in their kitchen while Meghan was feeding Princess Lily and cold-calling a dozen senators — their reactions were unbelievable — to ask them to advocate for paid leave.” Dayani and Meghan traveled to Uvalde, Texas, after the tragic 2022 school shooting. “For hours, [Meghan] sat in a room with grieving families, going one by one to each person — hugging them and crying with them,” she recalls to Us, noting that Meghan has since kept in touch with the families affected by the tragedy.

[From Us Weekly]

I said before that I wish the Sussexes had pushed back in one of the other trade papers, but I get the strategy now. They wanted a softer focus and space to share their staffers’ first-hand accounts of what it’s actually like to work at Archewell. I also wonder if People Magazine was offered this rebuttal first and they declined, because Us Weekly still wouldn’t have been my first choice for this? In any case, bookmark this story or screenshot it for the receipts. People are going on the record: Meghan is a lovely boss, they’re nice to their team, she’s not marching around the office making men cry. Case closed. It’s like pulling teeth to get the Sussexes to push back on these racist and sexist smears. This should have happened years ago.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, cover courtesy of Us.