When Jessica Mulroney - best friend of Meghan Markle - returned to social media after a two month hiatus, one would think that she would tread carefully. Her break, after all, followed potential damaging accusations of white privilege from fellow Canadian influencer Sasha Exeter. The incident sent shockwaves through Jessica's life and, reports say, affected her friendship with best friend Meghan Markle. But now Jessica may have risked upsetting Meghan again by publicly addressing their friendship.
Commenting on an image of Meghan at her 2018 wedding - in which Jessica's son Brian, standing behind Meghan as a page boy, grins behind her - Jessica wrote: 'When I feel dark and grey, I see this and it all goes away.' However, the photo didn't stay online for long - as Jessica swiftly deleted it.
It seems a perfectly harmless and positive comment but Meghan, who fiercely guards her privacy and is currently embroiled in a court case with The Mail on Sunday concerning invasions in this sphere, may not be thrilled to see her friend discuss her on a public forum, even vaguely. 'Many of her friends know that Meghan is not a topic of discussion in interviews,' a source tells Grazia. 'If a journalist brings her up, they know to deflect and downplay rather than be baited into sharing secrets. And they also know not to share unseen, candid photographs of Meghan and her family on social media. This comment may not break Meghan's rules, but it won't do Jessica any favours after a difficult few months.'
In June, Sasha said ‘a series of very problematic behaviour and antics’ ensued, resulting in ‘a threat in writing.’ ‘During the span of about a week or so, Jessica basically ticked every single box of what a white woman should absolutely not do during the biggest racial uproar in history,’ Sasha, a single mother, stated in her video. She added that the exchanges scared her as she believed Jessica was threatening her livelihood.
‘Listen, I am by no means calling Jess a racist but what I will say is this – she is very well aware of her wealth, her perceived power and privilege because of the colour of her skin. And that, my friends, gave her the momentary confidence to come for my livelihood in writing,’ she added. ‘Textbook white privilege really, in my personal opinion.’
‘Jessica never wanted to stand up and use her voice in the first place, and didn’t understand why she had to,’ Sasha also said. ‘Her best friend [Meghan Markle] is arguably one of the most famous black women in the world. I just didn’t get it.’
Following the allegations, Jessica commented on the video, writing: ‘You are right when you say “this s*** needs to stop”'.
However, Sasha claims that after this comment, she received a message allegedly from the stylist threatening a lawsuit – reading: ‘Liable [sic] suit. Good luck.’
Jessica then apologised again, this time on her own Instagram. ‘As some of you may have seen, @sashaexeter and I had a disagreement,' she wrote. 'She rightfully called me out for not doing enough when it came to engaging in the important and difficult conversation around race and injustice in our society.
‘I took it personally and that was wrong. I know I need to do better. Those of us with a platform must use it to speak out. I want to say from my heart that every word of my apologies to Sasha over the course of the last two weeks privately, and again both publicly and privately today is true. I did not intend in any way to jeopardise her livelihood. We had a disagreement and it got out of hand. For that I am sorry.'
However, Canadian TV station CTV pulled Jessica’s wedding reality show I Do Redo in the wake of the allegations. A statement read: ‘Bell Media and CTV encourages our entire team including our on-air talent to practice respect, inclusivity, and allyship as we pledge to work better and more openly to listen to and amplify Black voices, and not to minimise them. Because recent conduct by one of our shows hosts, Jessica Mulroney conflicts with our commitment to diversity and equality, CTV has removed I Do Redo from all Bell Media channels and platforms effective immediately.’
Jessica was also dismissed from daytime lifestyle show Cityline, which Jessica did guest contributions for. The show confirmed in a statement, ‘Cityline fans – we want you to let you know that Jessica Mulroney will no longer be appearing as a guest expert on our show.’ She has stepped down from her directorial role of The Shoebox Project.
The stylist is married to Ben Mulroney, the son of former Canadian prime minister Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
Earlier this year a source stated that Meghan has 'cut ties' with Jessica, and that their bond was already strained. Page Six claimed that Meghan thought Jessica was 'benefitting' from her association with royalty.
Hopefully the latest incident won't do any damage.
READ MORE: 9 Things To Know About Jessica Mulroney, Meghan Markle's BFF And Unofficial Stylist