The cover of this week’s issue of New Idea suggests that Prince Harry and Markle’s Los Angeles neighbors called the police on them for a supposed “explosive” fight they were having. The cover also promises “shock footage” of the salacious incident, next to photos of a police car and the residence where they’re currently staying.
The actual article, on the other hand, delivers on none of these exciting promises. An unnamed and likely nonexistent “insider” tells the magazine that the Sussexes “fight and bicker constantly” behind closed doors, their move to LA having “completely backfired.”
The tabloid goes on to claim that Markle is dissatisfied that her move back to LA hasn’t been the Hollywood takeover she supposedly expected. “She feels extremely slighted that it hasn’t worked out that way, coronavirus shutdown or not,” the shady tipster continues, adding that Markle is annoyed that Harry isn’t trying harder to “assimilate into Hollywood life” and “wears the same raggedy gray polo shirt” all the time.
“She married a prince, not a hobo, but in her angrier moments she rants that she can’t tell the difference,” the source says. If you’re paying attention, you might have noticed that none of this is about what the cover story teases – that eye-catching claim about the cops being called to the Sussexes’ house to break up a fight.
That’s because it did not happen. The tabloid cites a supposed “royal insider” who says that the Duke and Duchess have “taken extra security measures” since their move, and that “cops and armed guards would be there in seconds” if any danger should befall them. Bait-and-switches are common in cover stories, but rarely does Gossip Cop see one this blatant.
The police car featured on the cover was not called to their residence because of any explosive fight. In fact, Markle and Prince Harry called the police themselves in response to a slew of drones flying over their home, allegedly controlled by paparazzi. You know, the people tabloids buy photos from. This magazine is essentially spinning the incident into a tall tale that centers the blame on the Sussexes’ shoulders, even though they’re clearly the victims.
And, as usual, there’s the continuous attempts to frame Markle as an uptight, gold-digging diva. Here’s a question: if Markle was that much of a social climber why would she want to leave the royal family and work for a living, as she and Prince Harry have said they intend to do? It doesn’t get more high society than being married to a literal prince.
It seems as though New Idea seriously has it out for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, though Gossip Cop is at a loss as to what they did to the tabloid to elicit such treatment. Back in January, just before they announced they would be stepping down as full-time royals, we debunked a cover story from the magazine insisting that Markle and Prince Harry had secretly broken up nearly three months before.
But it was just another blatant bait-and-switch: the actual article merely claimed that the couple were “struggling privately with the pressures” of being in the spotlight, which was also false. A couple of weeks later, the tabloid wrote that Markle had met with Tom Cruise for help plotting her “Hollywood comeback.”
The story included a picture of Cruise and Markle walking side by side, which, as Gossip Cop pointed out, was clearly photoshopped from two separate photos. There was absolutely nothing true about that story. There is nothing true about this latest one, either.