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Another of Meghan Markle’s former Suits colleagues has leapt to her defense in a gushing Instagram post, praising the ‘kind, humble’ Duchess while hitting out at the ‘ruthless’ media’s ‘negative attacks’ on her.
Canadian director and photographer Derek Ursacki, who is based in Toronto, paid tribute to the 39-year-old earlier this week in the wake of her bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, recalling the five years that they spent working together on the set of Suits – during which he served as an assistant director.
Joining a long line of Meghan’s friends who have spoken out on her behalf in recent weeks, Ursacki shared several candid behind-the-scenes snaps from set, while writing: ‘I spent 5 years working with Meghan on Suits as an assistant director dealing mostly with cast.
‘She was always a pleasure to work with and was always kind with a huge heart, easy going, humble even after the fame of the show and her popularity skyrocketed, so full of life, so giving, supportive and funny.’
Defense: A former assistant director on Suits has shared a gushing tribute to Meghan Markle in the wake of her bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey last weekend
Speaking out: Derek Ursacki worked with Meghan, 39, for five years on the set of Suits, and he shared a glowing recollection of their time together, calling her ‘kind’ and ‘humble’
Ursacki, who is not known to be close friends with Meghan, went on to say that it ‘broke his heart’ to see the Duchess of Sussex opening up to Oprah, 67, about her struggle with suicidal thoughts and her battle with mental health issues.
In her interview with Oprah, Meghan said she had been suicidal while in the royal family but claimed she received no help after speaking about her suffering.
The Sussexes also alleged that a fellow unnamed royal had been worried about how dark their son Archie’s skin tone might be before he was born.
Meghan’s claim that someone in the monarchy raised concerns about Archie being ‘too brown’ was the most damaging allegation to come out of the broadcast, and caused untold damage to the Windsors’ reputation around the world.
The Duke of Cambridge was the first royal to personally respond to the allegation during his first royal engagement since the Oprah interview, as he also revealed that he has not spoken to his brother since it came out but ‘will do’.
Buckingham Palace said in a statement issued on Tuesday that the issues raised, especially over race, were ‘concerning’ and would be addressed by the Queen and her family privately.
Although Ursacki did not reference any of the other allegations made during the interview, he echoed the couple’s attacks on the media in his post, branding the press ‘ruthless’ while slamming the ‘negative’ coverage of Meghan and claiming that she has had to ‘live under constant attack’.
Candid: The director and photographer also shared several behind-the-scenes snaps of himself with Meghan, as well as an image of the duo with co-star Patrick Adams
Upset: In his Instagram post, Ursacki accused the ‘ruthless’ media of ‘attacking’ Meghan, and he said his ‘heart broke’ when he watched her discussing her mental health issues with Oprah
‘The media has been so ruthless towards her with so many negative stories attacking her without really knowing what she is truly going through,’ he wrote.
‘Until you walk a mile in someone’s shoes nobody should judge or make negative comments about anyone and nobody should have to live under constant attack and fear for their safety.’
Ursacki concluded his post with another gushing tribute to Meghan, writing: ‘In my heart of hearts I know Meg has not changed and is the still the sweet person I worked with for those 5 years. I wish her my very best and thank her for the many great memories I am fortunate and blessed to have had.’
The director accompanied the post with several behind-the-scenes images from his time on set, including a candid snap of himself and Meghan, who appeared to be dressed as her character Rachel Zane.
Another image showed the then-assistant director chatting to the former actress on set, while a third snap captured him walking alongside Meghan and her on-screen love interest Patrick Adams – who himself spoke out in defense of the Duchess ten days ago, when he launched an extraordinary attack on the royal family.
In a furious Twitter rant, the Canadian actor, who is now based in Los Angeles, accused the palace of ‘tormenting’ the Duchess of Sussex while describing the monarchy as ‘toxic, archaic, and shameless’.
Patrick, 39, who was born in Toronto, fired off an extraordinarily vicious rant against the royals on March 5 – three days before her interview with Oprah aired – insisting that his ‘powerful’ and ‘kind’ friend has been the subject of underhanded behavior on the part of the monarchy after reports were published that Meghan had ‘bullied’ several former staff members at Kensington Palace.
Team Meghan: Ursacki is the latest in a long line of friends and former colleagues to speak out in defense of the Duchess, including her on-screen love interest Patrick
Furious: On March 5, Canadian actor Patrick launched an extraordinary attack on the royal family while defending Meghan against claims she had bullied staff at Kensington Palace
Close pals: Meghan’s close friend, actress Janina Gavankar, also hit out at the palace last week, while revealing that the Sussexes have ’emails and texts’ to back up their royal allegations
Echoing the sentiments shared in Ursacki’s post, Patrick used several glowing adjectives to describe ‘kind, joyful and supportive’ Meghan, before detailing the struggle he says she faced when joining the ‘archaic and toxic’ royal family.
‘She fell in love, moved to a new country, became a household name across the entire globe and began the difficult work of trying to find her place in a family dynamic that can at best be described as complicated and at worst, seemingly archaic and toxic,’ he wrote in the eight-tweet rant.
It has since been reported that Buckingham Palace has ‘brought in an external legal firm’ to carry out an investigation into the claims that Meghan bullied royal staff.
In an unprecedented move that will no doubt increase tensions between the Sussexes and the royals even further, palace staff have decided a third party should take the reins of the investigation, rather than the in-house inquiry first announced, according to The Sunday Times.
And in another escalation of the standoff between the two parties, The Mail on Sunday revealed this weekend that Meghan has written to the palace demanding to see documents, emails or text messages relating to the bullying complaint against her.
In the days after the bullying allegations were brought to light in The Times, and in the wake of Harry and Meghan’s explosive interview with Oprah, the two sides have been engaged in a furious war of words – which several of the Duchess’ high-profile friends have launched themselves into.
Last week, Oprah’s best friend Gayle King – who attended Meghan’s New York baby shower in 2019 – doubled down on claims that the Duchess has ‘plenty of receipts’ to back up allegations made during the primetime sit-down.
Her comment came just hours after Meghan’s close friend, actress Janina Gavankar claimed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have ‘plenty of emails and texts’ to support the extraordinary and damaging accusations they made against the royal family.
