Everything that’s happened in the past three weeks has been so utterly predictable. The British media and the Windsors were hyper-aware of the new release timeline for With Love, Meghan, so they followed the same strategy they’ve used before. They sent Jason Knauf out to remind everyone that, according to Knauf, “Duchess Meghan bullied staff!” They sent Prince William and Kate out to make horse’s asses out of themselves. And they called on the toxic Markle family to do and say anything for a couple of nickels. As soon as WLM debuted, suddenly Meghan’s half-brother Thomas Markle Jr. was everywhere, talking sh-t about it. I wondered if Meghan’s horrid father would be dragged out too – Toxic Tom moved from Mexico to The Philippines earlier this year, much to the chagrin of the British tabloid journalists who were regularly invited into his home in Mexico. Well, it looks like the Mail managed to get his new contact information, because wouldn’t you know, Toxic Tom has given the Mail a new interview, all about With Love, Meghan. He claims he hasn’t watched it, yet he details all of the “inauthentic” moments in WLM. The Mail is just openly writing his scripts at this point.
Seven thousand miles away from the millionaires’ enclave in California that she and Harry now call home, sits her 80-year-old estranged father Thomas Markle, whose mother Doris is the ‘grandmother’ Meghan so lovingly refers to in her new Netflix series. Mr Markle says that while Doris – who died in 2011 aged 91 – ‘adored’ Meghan, she would be spinning in her grave at some of her granddaughter’s latest claims.
For example, at one point in the show Meghan corrects her friend, actress Mindy Kaling, for calling her ‘Meghan Markle’. In what some viewers called ‘an agonisingly rude moment’, Meghan says: ‘It’s so funny you keep saying ‘Meghan Markle’, you know I’m ‘Sussex’ now.’ As Mindy looks confused, Meghan – who has only visited Sussex once – adds: ‘You have kids and you go, “No, I share my name with my children”. I didn’t know how meaningful it would be to me but it just means so much to go, “This is our family name. Our little family name”.’
Speaking for the first time about his daughter’s latest foray into showbusiness – many have described the Netflix series as ‘make or break’ for the Sussexes – Emmy award-winning Mr Markle told The Mail on Sunday: ‘My mum loved Meghan very much but she would be so disappointed to hear that Meghan no longer wants to use the name “Markle”. My mother was proud to be a Markle. So am I. Meghan never had a problem with the Markle name until she met Prince Harry.’ With bitter sarcasm, he adds: ‘Now I have to say, “I am Meghan Sussex’s dad.”‘
For Mr Markle, who relocated to the Philippines earlier this year from his previous home in Rosarito, Mexico, the thought of watching his daughter’s Netflix show is too painful. ‘I haven’t seen the show but I’ve seen a ton of clips and I’ve read many stories,’ he says. ‘I might sit down and watch it one day but I’m not sure.’
But after viewing online clips of Meghan tending her bees, cooking in the kitchen of a rented home near her own mansion, and even transferring shop-bought pretzels from one plastic bag to another, he believes his daughter comes across as ‘inauthentic’. Mr Markle – an old Hollywood hand who has worked on shows including Married With Children and General Hospital – says: ‘Cooking show are horrendously boring unless the presenter has a passion for it. You have to be authentic to hold people’s attention. When you are stuffing the turkey’s a*** it has to look like you’re having fun doing it. Unfortunately Meghan has never been authentic. She has to think about everything. She’s not spontaneous. Everything she says is pre-planned and rehearsed. It makes me laugh because I know all her looks and expressions. I know when she’s faking it for the cameras. She’s trying so hard to be perfect that she tenses up every time the camera is on her. The best cooks are funny, they mess up, they are human. She just wants to be perfect. It’s sad because she’s trying so hard to stay in the limelight.’
“Meghan’s dead grandmother would hate that Meghan changed her surname when she married a prince” is a hell of a stretch. As is “Meghan is inauthentic because she’s tense on camera even though I haven’t watched the show!” That seems to be the talking point the British tabloids and commentators have settled on, btw: that WLM showcases Meghan’s “inauthenticity,” and they will simply never believe that Meghan genuinely likes to cook or enjoys learning new recipes or that she loves entertaining. This is all a false persona cooked up by Meghan for reasons! See, even her terrible father says so! The full Mail interview is a lot longer, because some Mail writer had an ax to grind and Thomas Markle must have given them the go-ahead to just put his name on anything. It’s all so pathetic, the way they keep dusting off this terrible man.
Photos/screencaps courtesy of 60 Minutes Australia & The Sun.
