Priyanka Chopra Calls Out Press Treatment of Meghan Markle: 'It Has to Do With Racism'
Priyanka Chopra and Meghan Markle have been friends for a while, and they’re both used to being frequent tabloid fixtures (they’ve even had to deal with fake stories written about their relationship). But although Chopra knowns firsthand what it’s like to be unfairly scrutinized in the media, she made sure to point out that the British press has been especially “unfortunate” when it comes to Markle, saying that some of the portrayals of the Duchess of Sussex have been fueled by racism.
In an interview with the Sunday Times published this weekend, Chopra praised how resilient and strong Markle has been in the face of negative press. Still, she didn’t shy away from noting that racism has been a factor in what’s been written about the royal.
“Of course it has to do with racism, it’s an obvious reason. But the beauty of Meg is that she’s been herself through all of this,” Chopra told the Times. “A lot of people got to know her after everything [once she started dating Harry], but I knew her before, and she’s the same chick. Now that she’s got a real platform, she talks about the same things she always did. We spent hours speaking about the difference that influence and dialogue can make to the world before this whole thing happened, so what you see now is authentically her. She’s always been the girl wanting to move the needle.”
It’s not the first time someone close to Markle has blasted the racist harassment she’s received. When he was dating her in 2016, Prince Harry issued a public statement through Kensington Palace condoning the behavior toward her. “Some of this has been very public—the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments,” the statement read. “Prince Harry is worried about Ms. Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her.”
Markle herself addressed the scrutiny around her ethnicity when she spoke about her engagement publicly for the first time. When asked how she’d dealt with scrutiny around her ethnicity, her response was self-aware and eloquent, showing off the grace Chopra mentioned in her interview.
“Of course it’s disheartening,” Markle said. “It’s a shame that that is the climate in this world, to focus that much on that…but at the end of the day, I’m really proud of who I am and where I come from.”