The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s marriage has been thrown into turmoil after Harry was blindsided by claims in Vanity Fair last week that Meghan’s team had been “shopping around a post-divorce book deal”.
While the magazine was quick to downplay the rumour with a source also insisting their “love is real”, Sussex insiders tell Woman’s Day the story has turned Harry’s world upside down.
It comes at a time when Harry, 40, should be celebrating, after settling his long-running privacy court battle with Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers.
The publishers offered an apology for “serious intrusions” into his private life, as well as that of his mother, the late Princess Diana, in his early years.
It’s been reported the group will have to pay close to $20 million in compensation to Harry and former UK politician Lord Tom Watson.
“Meghan’s beside herself. On one hand she’s dealing with the fallout of the article – and now her husband thinks she’s been plotting a secret divorce.
“Meghan’s got a battle ahead convincing Harry to believe her side of the story. He wants to, but the niggling feeling won’t leave him now.”
According to the article, no written or formal proposal was ever documented but rather, Meghan, 43, was simply seeking to garner interest around a book should she and Harry part ways.
“It’s assumed she would have received close to the $30 million the pair signed for with Penguin Random House in 2021.
“A few years ago a rumour began circulating in the book world about another prospective project for Meghan.
This story, which a person with knowledge confirms broadly, that Meghan’s team had a conversation with a publishing house to gauge interest in the idea for a potential book,” the author, Anna Peele, wrote.
Friends say Meghan’s “completely devastated” by the article.
“She’s been in tears over it,” says the source. “And she’s shocked at Harry for not believing her. If the marriage wasn’t already on shaky ground, it is now!”
