By Nehru Odeh
International bestselling author, Emily Giffin hogged the headlines in 2005 when she published her novel, Something Borrowed. But on Wednesday 6 May 2020 she made the headlines for the wrong reason when she publicly bashed a video of Meghan Markle reading to her son Archie on his first birthday, branding the Duchess of Sussex ‘phony’ and ‘unmaternal’. The video shows Meghan reading Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld to her son
Watch the video here
According to Daily Mail Online, The 48 year old writer had taken to instagram to share a text conversation she had with a friend in which the two of them slammed Meghan, accusing her of trying to get “attention” and of looking “fake and forced” in the video, which was filmed by Prince Harry..
The conversation is, indeed, provocative. The first incoming text, which was sent by Giffin’s friend read:
“Some thoughts: Archie is adorable but that video screamed look at me! Look at me! I need attention as the doting mother. She’s a joke.”.
The messages continued: “It was also sad how she seemed just slightly annoyed Archie wasn’t fully cooperating to her standards. He’s [one] for crying out loud!”
Giffin chimed in and agreed, texting her friend: “Completely,” to which her pal replied, “I feel so sorry for that little boy.”
The author then wrote that she felt Meghan “seemed so unmaternal” in the video, before adding: “It was so uncomfortable. She’s such a phony.”
In a later Instagram Stories post, Giffin, who, ironically, describes herself as an “anglophile” on Instagram, shared a grab from the video, which she captioned: “Happy Birthday Archie. Go away Megan.”
She continued in a third post: “Adorable child and book. But… Holy ‘me first’. This is the Megan show. Why didn’t she film and let Harry read? And why didn’t she take the moment at the end to say ‘He said daddy!’ Because that would make it about Harry for a split second. God forbid.
“Also, you want privacy for your child so you put out a video (by your authorized biographer) of him… wearing no pants?! Ooookay.
However, Giffin’s candid thoughts about the clip sparked a furious backlash online, prompting her to make all of her social media private in the hours after the posts were first shared and then re-posted to Twitter by user Kaitlin Menza.
Omid Scobie, a royal correspondent and author of an upcoming biography about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Finding Freedom, slammed Emily, calling her “hateful and pathetic”.
Another person added: “She clearly wants all the negative engagement she can get. She’s about to realize the Meghan haters don’t buy books or donate to charity. Hate is their only currency.”
The author was also accused of racism, with one Twitter user writing: “White women hating black women who just mind their business and simply exist will always amuse me. She looks like one of those women that belittles everything black women do. How sad, pathetic and spiteful.”
“Wow. (And I don’t mean that in a good way.)” another person wrote. “Way to show their racist underbellies. That is not a good look on anyone. Meghan can’t win with these people.”
One user then added: “The fact that she uses her Instagram as a platform to bully someone who has never harmed anyone and she still thinks she’s a better person than Meghan is beyond me. People need to look themselves in the mirror!”
A handful of people came to Emily’s defense however, pointing out that her criticism of Meghan isn’t necessarily rooted in race.
However, following the backlash, Emily issued an official apology, insisting that she never meant for her words to have such a ‘negative impact’, and that she “loves that a biracial, American woman” had married into the Royal Family.
“To be clear, I absolutely loved that a biracial, American woman was marrying into the Royal Family,” she wrote on Instagram.
“It seemed a wonderful, happy thing for everyone. I celebrated their wedding by hosting a gathering here at my home and posting many, many photos. Further, I was appalled by any signs of racism against her.”
She continued by admitting that her “feelings about both Harry and Meghan have changed” in the past few months, but made clear that her comments about them did not have “anything to do with [Meghan’s] race.
“Further, I understood why she wanted to leave the monarchy and carve out her own path,” Emily wrote. “I do, however, find fault with the way BOTH she and Harry handled things, and those feelings bled over in later posts, including the ones today.
“I can see how some of my posts may have felt mean-spirited, and could be construed as having racial undertones. It was not my intent, but I understand that intent and impact are two very different things. And I am truly sorry for that negative impact.”
According to her Twitter critics, this is not the first time that Emily has been accused of posting “hateful” things online, with one person accusing her of “behaving like this regularly”.
Indeed this is not the first time that Emily has come under fire for hitting out at the Sussex family; when Archie was born, she posted several Instagram Stories videos hitting out at the new parents’ choice of name and its lack of royal heritage. Emily also attacked Harry and Meghan’s decision not to give their son a royal title.
“Then we have Archie, which has absolutely no history in the centuries of the British family,’ she said in the clip. ‘No Archies, no Archibald…”
She continued by saying: “Just Archie. Just Archie Harrison. Just Archie Harrison.”
-With facts from Daily Mail Online