Meghan Markle has reportedly made another ally since returning to the United Kingdom with Prince Harry, this time reaching out to Lauren Silverman, wife of music mogul Simon Cowell. The Duchess of Sussex has been spending time in the Cotswolds with high-profile Hollywood friends, including Malala Yousafzai, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, but has now extended her circle to include Silverman, who lives with Cowell at their £8 million farmhouse in Chipping Norton.
A Phone Call and Shared Interests
Lauren had a phone call with Meghan and explained: "I definitely feel a lot of, I don't want to say similarities, but I can relate to her in a lot of ways." The pair discussed "some charity work stuff" over Zoom, including a shared interest in online safety for children.
The connection makes sense given Lauren's own experience with public scrutiny. She faced backlash when she fell pregnant with Simon's child in 2013 while still married to businessman Andrew Silverman. She said the fallout left her "ashamed and embarrassed", admitting later that she wanted to "hug her former self".
Past Struggles and New Connections
Lauren told The Sun: "I beat myself up so much and allowed what other people were saying about me to define me." Meghan, meanwhile, famously told Oprah Winfrey about her own feelings after being hounded in the headlines by the British press.
It's nice to see Meghan connecting with her neighbours. I just wonder how long it will last, after high-profile Hollywood friendships – with George and Amal Clooney, David and Victoria Beckham, and Katy Perry – started falling to the wayside.
Celebrity Friendships Under Scrutiny
Royal biographer Phil Dampier previously told Fabulous magazine: "It's ironic that Harry and Meghan invited all sorts of people to their wedding who they barely knew but thought would be useful in the future. Now where are those celebrities? It just goes to show that you can only really count on your true friends, people you have known for years and trust."
If you ask me, what Meghan needs is some non-famous friends. It's all well and good getting close to the Duchess because of the extra newspaper inches she can get you, or for her to sneak you into her Netflix show. I can't help but be reminded of Taylor Swift and her A-list friends, as soon as she made it big. Suddenly she was hanging out with the likes of Karlie Kloss, Blake Lively and Selena Gomez – but a lot of those friendships ended in huge fallouts and, of course, her well-documented feud with Kim Kardashian.
At the same time, Harry's celebrity friends are appearing to snub him in their droves. Elton John reportedly told Harry he is "not an ATM" when it came to funding his legal battles and the Invictus Games, and was later seen cosying up to King Charles at a music event in London, despite Harry being back in the country. If Meghan wants to lay low, she's best doing it with down-to-earth pals who can keep her out of the headlines. I'm not sure how many more celebrity feuds her reputation can cope with.
