Offering her opinion. Bethenny Frankel has plenty of suggestions for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle after claiming they “alienated” their fans amid news of their recent car chase.
“Some of you say to me, why do you talk about Meghan and Harry? I think, ‘They are right. Why do I?’ Then I start reading what people are saying and the news and you can’t believe that it is real,” the Real Housewives of New York City alum, 52, explained via Instagram on Friday, May 19. “I swear to you this woman needs to get on the Housewives. Just be a Housewife. Lean in and be infamous. It is not going that great. You alienated your base of fans.”
Frankel noted that her opinion of Meghan, 41, has changed since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped down from their senior royal roles in 2020.
“I was Team Meghan. I was so excited — it was a woman of the people marrying into royalty. I watched the wedding,” the reality star continued. “Then they left and I talked about [their tell-all interview in 2021] and came close to cancellation. So everyone is just catching up to me several years later. I got destroyed and lost business deals. It wasn’t that fun. So now this is happening, but it is hard to believe it is happening.”
The Skinnygirl founder’s candid commentary on Harry, 38, and Meghan comes days after the couple confirmed that they were followed by “a ring of highly aggressive” photographers while leaving an event.
“This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers,” a spokesperson shared in a statement to Us Weekly on Wednesday, May 17. “While being a public figure comes with a level of interest from the public, it should never come at the cost of anyone’s safety. Dissemination of these images, given the ways in which they were obtained, encourages a highly intrusive practice that is dangerous to all involved.”
At the time, Frankel took to social media to share her concerns about the situation.
“So that sounds very scary. To be sought after and hounded sounds very scary. That’s the honest truth,” she said in a TikTok video on Wednesday, comparing the incident to Princess Diana‘s death in 1997. “Perhaps this was the worst car chase since Princess Diana, but people have a hard time believing it because they’ve been raising their hands so much, saying, ‘We are experiencing the same thing as my mother who was killed in a paparazzi car chase.’”
The former Bravo star continued: “It’s a story that keeps being pushed. So it seems like it fits perfectly in that narrative of, ‘Oh, this is a good way, now we finally get to prove that it is as bad as it was for Diana.’ You can live a very, very well-rounded life without entering into the eye of this very dangerous storm. So don’t go if you know this is a massive risk and you are hounded by the paparazzi ad nauseam and it’s going to risk your life.”
Meanwhile, a source told Us that Harry and Meghan “were terrified” about how the incident turned out while attempting to get home with the California native’s mother, Doria Ragland. “Everyone is still very upset,” the insider told Us about how Harry and Meghan’s vehicle was “frighteningly pursued” by photographers.
The New York Police Department has since issued a statement about their experience assisting the pair, saying, “There were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries or arrests in regard.”
The taxi driver who was behind the wheel that night, Sukhcharn Singh, also offered a different account of what happened while he was escorting the royal couple.
“They looked nervous, I think they were being chased the whole day or something. They were pretty nervous, but the security guard, he was on it,” he told BBC on Thursday, May 18, before questioning claims that the situation was dangerous. “I don’t think that’s true, I think that’s all exaggerated and stuff like that. Don’t read too much into that.”
