Meghan Markle was accused of bullying, but her lawyer said the damaging term was used “very casually.”
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have stepped down from their royal duties. They have been away from the palace for over a year already, but the various controversies when the duchess was still in the palace continue.
The Duchess of Sussex had been accused of bullying when she was still working in the palace. She allegedly drove two personal assistants out of the household and “undermined the confidence” of a third.
Her staff were alleged traumatized and had been left in tears. Speaking on behalf of Markle, with her permission, her lawyer, solicitor Jenny Afia of law firm Schillings, denied that the duchess was a bully. Instead, she pointed out how bullying, “a very damaging term” has been used very freely and casually.
“I think the first thing is to be really clear about what bullying is because the term gets used very, very casually,” she said in a new podcast series with BBC journalist Amol Raja as quoted by Daily Mail.
She recalled how her 7-year-old daughter called her a bully when she asked her to brush her teeth. She concluded that the damaging term “bullying” has been used freely, especially for career women.
“What bullying actually means is improperly using power repeatedly and deliberately to hurt someone, physically or emotionally. The Duchess of Sussex absolutely denies ever doing that,” she said.
Afia said she wasn’t there when the alleged bullying incident happened. However, the allegations don’t match her personal experience of Markle especially when she saw her at very stressful times.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex released a statement earlier this year saying they won’t allow any unnamed sources to speak for them. Prince Harry and Markle also warned their fans not to pay attention to anonymous sources claiming to speak for them.
The move will boost the literacy of the Sussexes’ fans about them. In addition, it will help their supporters know if a report is true as confirmed by their spokesman or authorized by their camp.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been very open about their conflict with the British media. They are also campaigning against some section of the media that the duchess has criticized as a “model that rewards chaos above the truth.” Prince Harry has also condemned the “avalanche of misinformation” online.
