Meghan Accused of Wearing Stolen Dress on Netflix Show After Reports She & Harry Are ‘Running Out of Money’
There are always a lot of headlines about Meghan Markle. Even after she and Prince Harry stepped down as working royals five years ago, the public interest has continued, which means the number of stories written about her is still considerable. And yet sometimes, one comes out that feels really, really out of left field. This latest stolen dress falls into that category.
After Markle was seen wearing a one-shouldered gown in a new promo video for her upcoming Netflix holiday special, people started pointing out that it looked to be the same dress she wore during a Variety photoshoot a few years ago. And NewsNation’s Paula Froelich went as far as to suggest it wasn’t a lookalike, but the exact same dress, which Markle stole from the photoshoot.
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The allegations can be traced back to a comment made by journalist Vanessa Grigoriadis in 2024. While appearing on Andrew Gold’s “Heretics” podcast, Grigoriadis said that Markle allegedly did not return “a lot of stuff” after she “wore it in a very high-profile photo shoot.”
“What’s shocking about hearing these kinds of alleged stories is that somebody who is living in a $15 million plus mansion in Montecito, who’s just had $100 million deals, would care enough to take home some jewelry and clothes from a photoshoot that she can clearly afford,” Grigoriadis said at the time. There was no confirmation of what, exactly, Markle took, according to the journalist, but people have connected those two comments and concluded she must have been referring to this particular dress.
In the clip for With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration, the Duchess of Sussex is wearing an emerald green Galvan “Ushuaia” ensemble and can be heard saying, “I love the holiday season. It’s about finding time to connect with the people we love, embracing traditions, and making new ones.”
And people have gone as far as to allege this can be tied back to recent reports about Harry and Meghan’s finances, with sources reporting the two have recently had some upheaval when it comes to employees.
“This isn’t strategy — it’s survival,” one source told celebrity gossiper Rob Shuter. “They’re running out of money, and now they’re running out of people.” Another royal source said that layoffs were inevitable for the former royal family members. “They don’t have the money to keep the team they built,” the source added. “They tried to recreate the royal court — but California doesn’t do crowns on credit.”
Markle, however, has been very open about the perception of now having enough and how she’s tried to fight against it. During an episode of the podcast Confessions of a Female Founder, Markle said, “So many women, especially, we’re taught to not even talk about money. And there’s lots of guilt mentality surrounding having a lot,” she explained. “And at the same time, there’s a scarcity mindset that it’s easy to attach to, of like ‘I’ll never have enough.”
Considering the new Netflix deal and recent return to acting for Markle, there’s likely no need for her to “steal” a dress, particularly not one she’ll then use for a Netflix promo. It might be a different, but similar dress. It might be that the dress was gifted to her after the photoshoot. Perhaps she bought the dress after because she liked how she looked in it so much. Either way, unless Markle tells us the story behind the garment, people will likely continue to think whatever they want about it, based on their own preconceived notions.
