In the days since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s camp claimed that a “relentless” paparazzi pursuit led to a “near catastrophic car chase” in New York City last week, other high-profile figures have cast doubt on the story and even criticized the royal couple.
Speaking on her SiriusXM talk show after the paparazzi encounter made headlines, conservative host Megyn Kelly showed no sympathy for the Sussexes.
“Sorry, you two, but you’re in America now,” the former Fox News and NBC News host said. “And in America, the press has the right to photograph you when you’re in a public place. … Most of us who are public figures go through something like this multiple times, and we don’t run to our PR agents and have them release a statement playing the victim. … [Meghan] hasn’t seen a paparazzi [sic] she wants to avoid. Who are we kidding?”
Former “Real Housewives of New York City” star Bethenny Frankel also targeted Meghan as she commented on the couple’s demands that the footage be turned over. “I swear to you that this woman needs to get on the Housewives,” Frankel said in an Instagram reel on Friday. “Just be a Housewife. Lean in. Be infamous ‘cause it’s not going that great. You alienated your base of fans.”
The ex-reality star went on: “Now they want the footage. Why? If you know that your friend’s address is really private on the Upper East Side and you don’t want people to know, stay at a hotel. If you know that it’s going to be so incredibly horrible and the chase is so dangerous, just slow down, stop the car, get out, go into a restaurant, take a break, wait it out. Like, it doesn’t have to be that drastic.”
In an episode of “The View” airing the morning after the encounter, Whoopi Goldberg pushed back on the “verbiage” Harry and Meghan’s rep used.
“I think people in New York know if it was possible to have car chases in New York, we’d all make it to the theater on time,” she joked. “I think their spokesperson referenced something that you generally would reference in Los Angeles. That’s where you have chases; that’s where you can move at high speeds. I think they were dealing with aggressive paparazzi … but it just doesn’t work [that way] in New York.”
“The paparazzi are always going to go for celebrities, they just are, because it makes a little dough for them, so it is their right,” she continued. “When you use that kind of verbiage, know that your credibility is going to get cut in half, because the first thing people, New Yorkers, will say is, ‘Nobody moves that fast in New York City.’”
On Friday, a representative for Harry and Markle responded to accusations that the details of the encounter had been exaggerated. “Respectfully, considering the duke’s family history, one would have to think nothing of the couple or anybody associated with them to believe this was any sort of PR stunt,” rep Ashley Hansen told The New York Times. “Quite frankly, I think that’s abhorrent.”
But former New Yorker and Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Tina Brown, who has penned two books about the British royals, told the Times that the story “sounds mildly preposterous.”