Inbred Rich People: The Royalty Thread

[mel]

I think people's reaction to things Meghan says and does is generally OTT and unfair but this is a case where she deserved to be dragged. Meghan's inner Bachelor producer didn't think that one through.

[faithanne]

In her own life, Meghan’s response to being typecast seems to be to lean into all the positive things her story symbolizes. She understands what her ascent meant to Black Britons, for whom she’s a sign of progress, and to women, for whom she’s a working mom and a signal boost to the issues that affect them (paid parental leave, equal pay). Even though she avoids reading her own press, Meghan knows people see her this way. She recalls a moment from the 2019 London premiere of the live-action version of The Lion King. “I just had Archie. It was such a cruel chapter. I was scared to go out.” A cast member from South Africa pulled her aside. “He looked at me, and he’s just like light. He said, ‘I just need you to know: When you married into this family, we rejoiced in the streets the same we did when Mandela was freed from prison.’ ” Of course, she knows she’s no Mandela, but perhaps even telling me this story is a mode of defense, because if you are a symbol for all that is good and charitable, how can anybody find you objectionable, how can anybody hate you?

I don't think it's that bad, when you read the entire thing in context.

[MsDark]

Me either.

But given that people are looking for ways to find fault, I don't think she should have mentioned Mandela at all. Just leave it as: "we rejoiced in the streets".

I think it's still a shock to her system to be so hated by some no matter what she does or doesn't do. When or if she ever gets to the point where she stops trying to change the opinions of people who are going to hate her just for existing and just does her thing without apology or explanation I think things will get much better for her.

The more she feels and behaves like she's got something to prove to her haters and naysayers, the more validation she's giving them.    

[greysfang]

Aug 30, 2022 2:29:53 GMT shellee said:

A*O* was very straight forward and didn’t pussyfoot around which got some peoples panties in a twist thinking that she was racist when in fact she was correct about the EU’s history.

She said plenty of racist shit in the past about indigenous Australians.

[shellee]

^^ I should have worded it better. I believe she was correct many times regarding the RF and I don't think that sat well with some. I don't recall the racist shit about the indigenous Australians but I can't say that I'm surprised. I was never a fan of hers but she did know her shit.

[sputnik]

so i read the Cut interview and it's interesting.
meghan has always struck me as a specific type of american woman that is very obsessed with image. i don't necessarily mean that in a bad way. i have friends like that. one of my closest friends in DC is like that. she's got her private side that only her close friends are privy to where she's funny and wickedly clever and raucous and can imitate anyone she's ever met. then there's this carefully curated, kinda fake wife and mom who's perfectly groomed and manicured in a way that only american women are, where their hair and make-up are a little too perfect and nothing looks effortless. she hires photographers to take family photos every 3 months since her baby was born and they're these very posed photos that she emails out to people and posts on her facebook and she basically always projects this image of perfect family unity, etc. she addresses her husband a certain way when there are people around, using pet names and her loving wife voice lol. she was a cheerleader in high school, was popular, and then was in a sorority in college. and i think part of that still carries through in her life today even though she's very accomplished professionally as well.
and she's a private citizen. meghan strikes me as being this way but multiplied by 5 million since she's a public figure. everything is calculated and controlled and you can sense that behind the perfectly curated image there's someone far more intelligent, ambitious, etc. than she lets on. maybe more interesting. but you only catch little glimpses of it in the interview and in other appearances she's made.
not all american women are like this but it is definitely a type and maybe i'm more attuned to it because i'm a foreigner living here but i've met many of them. again, not necessarily a bad thing but it's definitely a type.

[Sarzy]

An acclaimed actor and friend of Nelson Mandela today told MailOnline he is 'baffled' by the Duchess of Sussex's suggestion that his country had 'rejoiced' when she married Prince Harry - and revealed he has never met her despite claiming to be the only South African member of the cast in Disney’s recent remake of The Lion King.

Dr John Kani believes the Duchess of Sussex has made 'a faux pas' after she used a US magazine interview to imply her 2018 royal wedding sparked celebrations in South Africa reminiscent of the release of his friend Madiba, the legendary anti-apartheid leader.

He said Mr Mandela's walk to freedom after 27 years was a 'landmark moment' while her marriage to Prince Harry was 'no big deal' in South Africa, adding that the two events 'cannot be spoken in the same breath’ and ‘you can't really say where you were when Meghan married Harry’

In an interview with The Cut, Meghan suggested she had been told the opposite by a male South African cast member at the London premiere of the Lion King live action film held in 2019. Meghan declared: 'He looked at me, and he’s just like light. He said, "I just need you to know: When you married into this family, we rejoiced in the streets the same we did when Mandela was freed from prison".'

But Dr Kani, a veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company who voiced the mandrill shaman Rafiki, told MailOnline that he was the only South African in the Disney movie, has never met Meghan and was not at the UK premiere.

He said the only other South African who was involved was Lebo M, a composer who together with Hans Zimmer was responsible for the music for The Lion King. But Lebo M was not in the cast.

Sitting under a portrait of his friend Mr Mandela at his Johannesburg home, he said: 'I have never met Meghan Markle. This seems like something of a faux pas by her. I have I have never met the Duchess at all. I am the only South African member of the cast and I did not attend the premiere in London.

'I went to Hollywood as we opened there and from there I had to go immediately to Paris where I was shooting a film sequel, so I couldn't hang around. The only South African was me playing Rafiki. But I did not go to the opening in Leicester Square as I didn't have the time to do that. It just may be a mis-remembering on her side

It is baffling me. I am the only South African in the cast. I play Rafiki, Seth Rogen plays Pumbaa, Donald Glover plays Simba and Beyonce plays Nala.'

The actor insisted that Harry and Meghan's nuptials were 'no big deal' in his country, adding: 'I cannot even tell you now what month she married or what year'.

Dr Kani said he did not believe that the people of South Africa celebrated Meghan's marriage to Prince Harry on the scale that greeted the release of anti-apartheid campaigner Nelson Mandela as claimed by her.

He said: 'In my memory, nobody would have known when she got married, when or what. We had no South African link to the wedding or to her marrying Harry.'

He said: 'I am truly surprised by this. For me it is a non-event, the whole thing'.

MailOnline has approached the Sussexes and Disney about his claims. The Cut declined to comment.


www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11164935/Mystery-Meghan-Markles-Nelson-Mandela-claims-actor-insists-NEVER-met-Duchess.html

[Sarzy]

Sorry for the double post. Sputnik, you're right about everything being calculated and controlled. She is very concerned with how people view her.



Meghan's reaction to Mariah Carey calling her a diva:

Later in her podcast, Meghan admitted that she initially thought Mariah was criticising her by calling her a diva, only to learn that she meant it as a compliment.

'My fangirling was tempered today,' said Meghan. 'I kind of think she could tell. But that aside, it was all going swimmingly, really well, until that moment happened, which I don't know about you, but it stopped me in my tracks. When she called me a diva.

'You couldn't see me, obviously, but I started to sweat a little bit and started squirming in my chair in this quiet revolt, like "wait, no, what, how could you? That's not true, why would you say that?"

'My mind was genuinely just spinning with what nonsense she must have read or clicked on to make her say that, and I just kept thinking in that moment was my girl crush coming to a quick demise? Does she actually not see me?

'So, she must have felt my nervous laughter, and you would've all heard it too, and she jumped straight in to make sure I was crystal clear when she said diva, she was talking about the way that I dress, the posture, the clothing, the quote, unquote fabulousness, as she sees it.

'She meant diva as a compliment, but I heard it as a dig, I heard it as the word diva as I think of it, but in that moment as she explained to me, she meant it as chic, as aspirational, and how one very charged word can mean something different for each of us, it's mind-blowing to me.'

Meghan continued: 'It actually made me realise, and in these episodes as I've opened the door for conversations surrounding archetypes that try to hold us back, what I hadn't considered is that for some, reclaiming the words is what they feel will propel us forward.'

[cornflakegrl]

The Mandela reference is beyond the pale. A close second is her directing the reporting to record her noises. That's always been my irritation with her. She comes off as contrived versus authentic. But that's hollywood for ya.

[czb]

ok - a lot of stuff on this page.

@sput - i know what you mean about women with the carefully curated image; i see it among different women. a lot of them LURVE goop. but i don't get meghan ... i can understand her being guarded and not wanting to share too much of her private life, but she seems so inauthentic. like she talks about others' reactions to her in order to elevate herself. the more she talks, the less i like her (not a hater though, just have a less favorable impression everytime i read/hear more).

about A*O* - i don't want to crap on her since she is not here, but yeah, she def made racist comments. i don't remember anything specific about the AUS natives, but definitely remember other things. maybe not as blatant as effie and her comments about monkeys, but YES they made racist comments.

[MsDark]

In a nutshell, Meghan gives too much of a shit about what people think of her, especially her haters. She just seems way too bothered by wanting to constantly set the record straight. There's people who find that particular behavior suspicious in and of itself.

You're never going to win these people over until you stop letting yourself be bothered by them. You will never win some of them over ever. Period. End of story. Another reason to stop letting yourself be bothered by them. I sound like a broken record here, but it's true.

I miss A*O's input. But it's always an increasing bummer watching someone you'd known as funny, down to earth and possessed of common-sense become slowly absorbed by the political right-wing rhetoric of their country to the point where those undertones took over every conversation and you felt like you really didn't know them very well anymore, or started doubting if you ever did.

When it's a woman who swings this way (especially if I knew them to be more open-minded prior and a change becomes apparent later) I always wonder if it's because she's married to or otherwise dickmatized by some chest thumping misogynist. I know that sounds unfair...but if I had a goddamn dollar for how often I've seen this play out...

[❤️ NickiDrea ❤️]

Meghan’s comments about Mariah come off in a way I don’t think paints her in a good light.

Again, I like her, but she doesn’t seem like the type of person to take criticism well. I would guess that some of the maltreatment that she’s referring to from people within the royal household may have been people trying to give her criticism (whether in a nice way or not), and her getting defensive and riled up. Perhaps they were overly critical of her and it’s obvious that she experienced racist treatment due to either conscious or unconscious bias . However I am also certain that her attitude (whether Americans might view it as admirable/go-getter) created issues because of a cultural clash. Now I guess it could also be a situation where Meghan has been attacked so much that she is naturally on the defensive but… I don’t know. I think the situation was multi-layered.

Sorry if my comments about Britain offended anyone but my view remains negative which frankly is the fault of their own media. In visiting there I didn’t have a particularly positive experience but I brushed it off and my overall view of Britain remained neutral. After the last few years it’s turned negative. I’m sure there are awesome Brits and I’m sorry that some people have caused the view I currently have. But I guess it’s really no different with how Americans get stereotyped and insulted because of our shitty governmental policies (although a disturbingly large number of people here do support those policies).

On another note, Effie and A*O BOTH made racist/bigoted comments multiple times.

[sleuth]

Aug 31, 2022 20:21:25 GMT czb said:

ok - a lot of stuff on this page.

@sput - i know what you mean about women with the carefully curated image; i see it among different women. a lot of them LURVE goop. but i don't get meghan ... i can understand her being guarded and not wanting to share too much of her private life, but she seems so inauthentic. like she talks about others' reactions to her in order to elevate herself. the more she talks, the less i like her (not a hater though, just have a less favorable impression everytime i read/hear more).

about A*O* - i don't want to crap on her since she is not here, but yeah, she def made racist comments. i don't remember anything specific about the AUS natives, but definitely remember other things. maybe not as blatant as effie and her comments about monkeys, but YES they made racist comments.

Sorry I don’t mean to be that person but saying “AUS native” might get you a dirty look around here.. there has been a move in Australia to use First Nations people as a more appropriate term.

I agree with everything else you said though. I haven’t read the full interview yet but she sounds unhinged. I used to think she just embellished stories to suit her needs but now Im wondering if there is something more going on with her. I initially enjoyed her getting sloppy with the lies but she was someone who was much more careful, calculated and clever about it. Her recent sloppiness and odd behaviour is beginning to concern me as its out of character for her.

[mel]

Meghan said she doesn't pay attention to the media, but it's obvious she does. I do think she's someone naturally sensitive to criticism, which probably did cause problems when she entered the RF, but the British tabloids and royal experts are absolutely unhinged and obsessed with her. If you don't make the decision to ignore it, I imagine it really messes with your head. She barely did anything for two years yet it never let up. I do believe that her mental health was at a breaking point before they chose to leave, but I'm not sure it's that much better now. It makes me sad because I do think that she has a lot of good qualities.

I do rather like her podcast though. She has a good voice for podcast. She needs to loosen up some but there's really nothing about it deserving of all the vitriol. Maybe that's been her problem from the start: Any constructive criticism is drowned out by the vitriol.

[czb]

Sept 1, 2022 0:22:07 GMT sleuth said:

Aug 31, 2022 20:21:25 GMT czb said:

ok - a lot of stuff on this page.

@sput - i know what you mean about women with the carefully curated image; i see it among different women. a lot of them LURVE goop. but i don't get meghan ... i can understand her being guarded and not wanting to share too much of her private life, but she seems so inauthentic. like she talks about others' reactions to her in order to elevate herself. the more she talks, the less i like her (not a hater though, just have a less favorable impression everytime i read/hear more).

about A*O* - i don't want to crap on her since she is not here, but yeah, she def made racist comments. i don't remember anything specific about the AUS natives, but definitely remember other things. maybe not as blatant as effie and her comments about monkeys, but YES they made racist comments.

Sorry I don’t mean to be that person but saying “AUS native” might get you a dirty look around here.. there has been a move in Australia to use First Nations people as a more appropriate term.

I agree with everything else you said though. I haven’t read the full interview yet but she sounds unhinged. I used to think she just embellished stories to suit her needs but now Im wondering if there is something more going on with her. I initially enjoyed her getting sloppy with the lies but she was someone who was much more careful, calculated and clever about it. Her recent sloppiness and odd behaviour is beginning to concern me as its out of character for her.

after i wrote 'AUS native' i realized it was inappropriate. so should i write First Nations? or something else? please tell me what is correct (i mean this sincerely).