The Duchess of Sussex, who became a mother for the first time this year, has hired the prominent American crisis management firm Sunshine Sachs, which is known for its “dark arts of public relations” and which has even worked with disgraced celebrities, like producer Harvey Weinstein, The Sun reports. According to the outlet, Meghan Markle is reportedly concerned that “the public is turning on her” following recent speculations.
She reportedly snubbed Buckingham Palace advisers, instead turning to Sunshine Sachs’ PR gurus - chief executive Shawn Sachs and Keleigh Thomas Morgan, who worked with her already when she was starring in the show Suits.
The royal couple also has former adviser to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign Sara Latham working for them and the move is said to have left the Palace staff shocked. However, the source, cited by The Sun, points out that the Duchess trusts Keleigh Thomas Morgan, who was given a prime seat at the royal wedding last year.
“Hiring a Hollywood firm to represent you for PR while a member of the Royal Family is unorthodox, to say the least. Senior palace courtiers have been left bemused over the last few months that the couple have been ignoring advice from their own highly-professional team and will instead listen to outsiders in Hollywood”, the insider told the outlet.
Not only did the firm represent Harvey Weinstein four years ago when model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez accused him of groping her, but it has also worked with deceased pop prince Michael Jackson, suspected of abusing minors, Ben Affleck, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Leonardo DiCaprio, Justin Timberlake, Jennifer Lopez, Snoop Dogg, and Natalie Portman.
Sachs and Morgan are said to have assisted her with an unprecedented guest edit of Vogue magazine and Meghan and Prince Harry’s own Sussex Royal charity foundation, which they started earlier this year amid rumours of a spat with Prince William and his wife Catherine.
Besides the speculations of a royal rift, which have been going around in British tabloids for moths and have suggested that Meghan Markle even drove Prince William’s wife to tears amid wedding preparations, some reports have claimed that the Duchess’ relations with her father Thomas are also far from perfect. The Sun earlier said that she has no intention of letting her almost four-month-old son Archie meet his grandfather Thomas Markle, as she needs to “to protect herself, her husband and her son”. She has also been accused of hypocrisy amid speculations that she took four private jet flights in 11 days despite her own calls for people to be more environmentally conscious.