A few months before Meghan Markle was married into the royal family, she deleted all her social media s. Even now, when she has broken all ties with the family, she isn't planning to have a personal Instagram. Is her lack of online presence in part due to former best friend Jessica Mulroney's white privilege scandal?
In June 2020, Meghan's ex-best friend Jessica got into an online spat with an Instagram influencer, Sasha Exeter. Being a Black woman, Sasha urged her fellow IG influencers, including Jessica, to raise their voices in of the Black Lives Matter movement. But the 40-year-old fashion stylist misunderstood the generic appeal and responded to Sasha with threatening messages. Sasha didn't take Jessica's DMs lightly and exposed her on social media. Eventually, Jessica had to accept her mistake and issue a public apology. But the damage was done, and she was removed "effective immediately" from her reality show I Do, Redo. The official statement from the CTV read, "Recent conduct by one of our shows' hosts, Jessica Mulroney, conflicts with our commitment to diversity and equality." Consequently, to save her public image from further damage, the reality TV star took a two-month break from social media to "reflect, learn and listen."
After seeing her former BFF go through such an experience on social media, Meghan is also avoiding having a personal social media . She recently talked about the "damaging" effect trolling had on her mental peace. The 39-year-old former actress was informed she was "the most trolled person in the entire world in 2019 - male or female." Since being on social media for a celebrity can be toxic, Meghan is steering clear of all the negativity. Metro reports Meghan said, "For my own self-preservation, I have not been on social media for a very long time."
The Duchess of Sussex added, "I made a personal choice to not have any , so I don't know what's out there, and in many ways that's helpful for me. I have a lot of concerns for people that have become obsessed with it and it is so much a part of our daily culture for so many people that it's an addiction." It seems as though Meghan might be referring to Jessica's online dispute with the fellow influencer, and the dire consequences that followed.
But her choice not to have a social media doesn't mean Meghan will stay away from the media or entertainment industry altogether. Earlier, reports suggested that Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, are planning to appear on a fly-on-the-wall documentary series with Netflix. However, the royal couple's spokesperson denied those rumors, saying (via People), "The Duke and Duchess are not taking part in any reality shows." Still, the duo will collaborate with the streaming platform to produce inspiring content that will inform and instill hope in viewers.