Meghan Markle's Reported Treatment Of Restaurant Staff Doesn't Help Bullying Rumors

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Does the Duchess of Sussex really have a dark side? Royal watchers can't quite seem to come to a definitive conclusion. Bullying accusations have consistently resurfaced against Meghan Markle from sources you'd least expect, but then there have also been those who worked with the former "Suits" star and insisted she's nothing but lovely. Even so, reports about her dodgy past behavior keep popping up regardless. Aside from rumors that some of Meghan's ex-staffers were left shaken by her alleged bullying, an unexpected claim about the duchess's behavior before she became royalty surfaced in 2022. 

Former maître d' Michael Cecchi-Azzolina alleged in his book, "Your Table Is Ready," that Meghan was trying to throw her weight around as a future royal to get a private table at a prestigious restaurant in New York City, where he happened to work at the time. Well, technically the former actor's handler was the one who brought up the fact that she was dating Prince Harry, but Meghan didn't do anything to discourage them from using him to get what she wanted. Cecchi-Azzolina posited that the future royal remained "aloof" and she "didn't say a word" during the encounter, acknowledging, "My first impulse was to laugh." He added, "I couldn't give two s**ts about Prince Harry's date, and by the attention the escort was drawing from the crowd at the bar, nor did anyone else."

This wasn't the only time someone described Meghan as distant and cold. An anonymous palace staffer disclosed to Vanity Fair, in 2025, that she was known for her icy personality. Though initially warm and welcoming, the duchess turned on employees the moment they fell below her lofty expectations. "It's talking behind your back. It's gnawing at your sense of self. Really, like, 'Mean Girls' teenager," the source detailed.

In September 2024, the Hollywood Reporter quoted several people who professed to have formerly worked for Meghan Markle, and they didn't have very nice things to say about her, with one source even dubbing the Duchess of Sussex a "dictator in high heels." They added, "I've watched her reduce grown men to tears." Shortly after this unflattering piece was published, Us Weekly posted an article of its own in which former Sussex staffers sang Meghan and Prince Harry's praises, with even his short-lived chief of staff, Josh Kettler, who held the job for just three months, providing assurances that the royal defectors are a lovely couple. A day later, the Daily Beast weighed in with insider sources of its own, who explained that the rumors weren't as black and white as they appeared.

A former courtier confirmed that Meghan and Harry's abrupt exit from the U.K. had a lot to do with how the bullying rumors were being interpreted by the public at large. "I do think that after the ill-feeling of Megxit, Meghan's bad moments were amplified and distorted and blown out of proportion," they said. The source did, however, admit that the former "Suits" star hadn't been the perfect boss and that they'd personally observed some unsavory moments. 

"There definitely were bad, very bad, even psycho moments. I witnessed people being chewed up in person and over the phone and made to feel like s**t," the courtier dished. However, they also pointed out that Meghan, admittedly, was going through a rough time mentally, which may have contributed to her behavior, noting, "It was an incredibly fraught time and I'm inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt. She has said herself she was suicidal at times."