July 18, 2022

Royals

Meghan Markle dubbed the 'meanest person ever' to work with

A director was met with a succession of demands after hiring Meghan Markle for Reitmans ad campaign

By Ellen James July 18, 2022
A director was met with a succession of demands after hiring Meghan Markle for Reitmans ad campaign

A director weighed in on his difficult experience of working with Meghan Markle for an ad campaign.

The details were revealed in Tom Bower’s highly-anticipated read, Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors, in which he claimed that the Duchess of Sussex "bulldozed her way through" during a campaign for Canadian women's clothing store Reitmans.

Director Jean Malek hired the royal in March 2016 for the commercial and immediately regretted it after he was welcomed with a succession of demands both during filming for the ad campaign and post-production.

According to the book, Jean Malek didn’t spare Meghan and took to his Facebook to denounce her as the ‘meanest person he’s ever met.’

The arguments entailed Meghan demanding changes to the script. The book claimed Meghan was still not satisfied even after the changes were made.

"'She bulldozed her way through,' complained one of the team. No one stood up to her," the book said.

Another director Grammatico, however, endorsed Meghan Markle’s complaints and suggested that the ‘agency was focusing the commercial on Reitmans’ label and the dress rather than Meghan herself.’

The script was later rewritten by Grammatico, meeting the likes of the Duchess.