Why Meghan Markle Has Let Herself Be Photographed Out More: She’s ‘Not Seeking’ It Out
In the last month or so, Meghan Markle has been seen out more around her neighborhood of Montecito, California, after a few years of fighting for privacy with husband Prince Harry. The Sussexes have acclimated to living in the U.S. and faced a number of changes to their lifestyle. With comfort comes more unofficial public appearances.
The Duchess has been spotted shopping at the farmer’s market, at a showing of Barbie, attending a bachelorette party, and enjoying her own 42nd birthday at a local restaurant. An insider told Page Six that the photographs aren’t necessarily deliberate.
“Meghan’s not seeking out opportunities to be photographed, but she’s realized she has to live her life, none of the cameras are going away,” they explained.
She is also apparently building up to a new project since the end of her and Harry’s Spotify deal earlier this year.
“Meghan and the team are working hard,” another insider said. “I think it will be surprising, it won’t be what everybody is expecting it to be, it will feel familiar to who Meghan is.”
Meghan still has a lot of influence over her followers — she was recently photographed wearing an “anti-stress” device called a NuCalm sticker on her wrist that sent sales skyrocketing. And her former show Suits has been setting streaming records on Netflix, where she and Harry have their doc Harry & Meghan as well.
“Nobody is fighting this whole privacy issue, this whole story of ‘don’t pay attention to us, pay attention to us’, it’s a total exaggeration, because the crux of Harry and Meghan’s move, in the beginning, was mostly spun from the palace that they wanted a more private life,” a source said. “They know they’ll never have a private life.”
A more negative take from a second source was: “Harry has made it clear that he never wanted to be in the media…he would be very happy to go away. I think he’d like to go and live in Botswana – as long as he had money. Meghan actually likes being famous.”
They added, “If he’s seen out getting dinner he doesn’t have a problem with it, but what he struggles with is protecting his children and their innocence, so much of what he felt was really challenging in his own life.”
Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will be released by Dial Press in February 2022.