Meghan Markle ‘craved’ gossip column coverage to ‘raise profile’ before meeting Harry

Meghan Markle and the media have been on the outs for a while ever since she married into the royal family. However, there was a time when she too had clung on to the press for her benefits.

It has now been revealed that the Duchess of Sussex, before meeting Harry and even prior to making it big on Suits, used the paparazzi to elevate her profile.

The revelation was made in the upcoming explosive book about the former royals, titled Finding Freedom, and written by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand.

“While Meghan, before she met Harry, had occasionally set up a paparazzi photo here and there or let info slip out to the press, she did everything in her power to protect the privacy of her relationship with the prince,” the authors wrote.

In light of the claims that have surfaced, The Mail on Sunday’s show business editor Katie Hind wrote recently about her meeting with Meghan back in 2013.

“It soon became clear that Meghan was determined to raise her profile – even if it was with an inconsequential 80-word piece tagged on to the end of my weekly column. She was softly spoken, kind and eager to chat,” Hind wrote.

“Pouring me some of the venue’s house prosecco into a plastic champagne flute, I sensed an eagerness to make me her friend. Clearly, networking was something at which she excelled. Either she didn’t realise she was doing it or – more likely in my view – she had it down to a fine art. At the time, she just seemed like a normal woman,” she added.

“We spent much of the remainder of the night talking about English men, how much she liked them and how much she loved London,” she wrote.

“It isn’t easy to reconcile the Meghan who appeared so at ease talking candidly with a tabloid journalist she had never previously met with the Duchess on our screens last weekend who spoke of her hatred for the British tabloids.”

“Had contempt hidden behind the hugs on that rooftop bar six years ago? Did her smiles really mask a snarl of disgust? Or is it that, as the Duchess of Sussex, she no longer needs the gossip column coverage that plain Meghan Markle once craved?” she concluded.