What a royal pain!
Meghan Markle has been dropped by WME, multiple sources tell Page Six, after months of speculation about her relationship with the top Hollywood agency.
But the agency denies it has given the star the royal flush, and says it’s still working with her.
We’re told that the Duchess of Sussex has not held any meetings with the agency’s uber powerbroker Ari Emanuel since January last year — though she is believed to have met with her day-to-day agents.
An industry insider said Markle, 43, was let go because she was “too demanding,” and “difficult to work with.”
It is unclear exactly when she was dropped, though WME insists they are still working with her.
“WME continues to represent Meghan and Archewell,” said a rep.
Indeed, sources said the agency is still working on some of her projects for Archewell, the foundation she runs with her husband, Prince Harry.
In addition to this, we hear that Markle had an outburst in January 2024, right after the holidays, when the Duchess demanded a meeting, “and expected decks and plans,” though it’s unclear if this was for herself or Archewell.
This led to a dispute and, “Ari was done with her,” said the insider. The incident was confirmed by another source.
The news comes as the mom-of-two prepares to launch her new Netflix lifestyle show, “With Love, Meghan,” next Tuesday.
Markle had only been with the top agency since April 2023, and was being looked after personally by WME big hitters Brad Slater, who reps Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Jill Smoller, who represents the onetime “Suits” star’s longtime friend, tennis champ Serena Williams.
But, another Hollywood source told us, “I don’t know what those projects are, but WME is definitely not working on Meghan’s personal business.”
Markle has been busy relaunching herself on Instagram in time for her Netflix show.
However, she was recently forced to rebrand her lifestyle business, “As Ever,” after a series of trademark setbacks for “American Riviera Orchard.”
As Page Six revealed this weekend, the products – which Markle confirmed would include her heavily promoted jam — won’t be ready for sale for months after her show debuts.
She is working on the product line alongside Netflix.
Markle and Prince Harry have had a hard time keeping their team together with former employees dating back to their time in London dubbing themselves the “Sussex Survivors Club.”
Buckingham Palace previously made an inquiry to bullying claims leveled at Markle, though they never released the findings.
Although Markle denied this, her former press secretary, Jason Knauf, told “60 Minutes Australia” over the weekend that he stands by the allegations he made against the former royal in 2018.
Knauf reportedly wrote in a message to Prince William’s press secretary at the time, “I am very concerned that the duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year. The treatment of X was totally unacceptable.”
“The Duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights,” Knauf’s note continued. “She is bullying Y and seeking to undermine her confidence. We have had report after report from people who have witnessed unacceptable behavior toward Y.”
In another report, published by Vanity Fair in January — five years after the couple had left their roles as senior working members of the royal family — a former staffer called Markle a “‘Mean Girls’ teenager.”
One source who worked on the “Archetypes” podcast at Spotify described the alleged experience with Markle as “really, really, really awful” and “very painful.”
Read the full article here
