Jessica Mulroney, Meghan Markle. Shutterstock (2)
The royal drama continues. Meghan Markle’s former friend Jessica Mulroney shared a cryptic quote after she didn’t appear in volume 1 of the Sussex’s tell-all docuseries, Meghan & Harry.
“Best thing I ever did was learn how to move without the crowd,” a quote posted by the stylist, 42, via her Instagram Story read on Tuesday, December 13, per Page Six — two days before vol. 2 of the Netflix show drops on the streaming platform.
Mulroney’s enigmatic post comes less than one week since her notable absence in the first three episodes of Harry & Meghan. Though she wasn’t interviewed for the series, the Suits alum, 41, was shown FaceTiming a friend named Jess in old footage aired during the second episode. In the 2017 clip, the Duchess of Sussex excitedly tells her friend that Harry, 38, is about to propose.
The Canada native’s latest Instagram Story is not the only time she appeared to throw shade at Meghan via a cryptic quote.
In June 2021, she shared a message that read in part, “Life changes. You lose love. You lose friends. You lose pieces of yourself that you never imagined would be gone.”
Meghan and Mulroney’s friendship suffered one year earlier when the former CTV host was embroiled in a racism scandal with blogger Sasha Exeter in June 2020. After apologizing for her remarks — in which she slammed Exeter after the writer called for influencers to speak out to fight racism — Mulroney referenced her relationship with the duchess and Meghan’s own battle with racism.
“As I told you privately, I have lived a very public and personal experience with my closest friend where race was front and centre,” Mulroney told Exeter. “It was deeply educational. I learned a lot from that. I promise to continue to learn and listen on how I can use my privilege to elevate and support Black voices.”
Meghan, for her part, “could not get over that Jessica brought up [their] relationship … when she commented about her ‘closest friend’ in the discourse with Sasha,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly at the time about the royal’s response. “That was hugely offensive to Meghan and the deciding factor for her. Meghan considers the relationship to be done.”
While the pair’s bond was already “less strong before this drama went down,” — per a second insider — this incident made Meghan want to “distance herself” from Mulroney for good.
“Of course Meghan is supportive of Jessica, as she is with all of her friends, but it’s a bit off-putting when Jessica seemingly uses their friendship for headlines,” the source continued, adding that “Meghan is very aware when people in her life do this … [and she] is being very cautious with her affiliations.”
Meghan Markle, Jessica Mulroney. ANL/Shutterstock
Despite the drama, Mulroney supported her friend in March 2021 amid bullying allegations from palace staff — and the Bench author seemed appreciative of the gesture.
“I don’t know that anyone has ever had to deal with the pressure, the politics and the press like this woman,” Mulroney wrote via social media in defense of her friend at the time. “In the face of it all, I have never seen her waver from kindness, empathy and love.”
Meghan, for her part, sent her pal flowers in response, which Mulroney showed off via her Instagram Story.
“LUCKIEST FRIEND XXXX,” she penned, sharing a photo of the pink roses. “THX MM.”