Tag: Meghan Markle

It’s a girl, Meghan and Harry tell Oprah Winfrey

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Meghan and Harry say their second child is a girl. The two made the revelation in their interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired on Sunday night, a rare positive moment in a conversation that dwelt mostly on their struggles within the royal family.

Their first child, son Archie, turns 2 in May. Harry said ”to have a boy and then a girl, what more can you ask for? But now we’ve got our family. We’ve got the four of us and our two dogs.” Harry, wearing a gray suit as he sat next to his wife at a distance from Winfrey, joined the interview after Meghan talked to Winfrey alone. He denied blindsiding the queen with the news that he and Meghan were stepping down from their royal duties, saying it was preceded by several conversations.

”I’ve never blindsided my grandmother,” Harry said. ”I have too much respect for her.” He did however say that his father, Prince Charles, has stopped taking his calls. Meghan Markle told Oprah Winfrey that she had suicidal thoughts after marrying Prince Harry, and the palace prevented her from getting help. Meghan told Winfrey in the interview airing Sunday night that she just didn’t see a solution to the mental suffering she had experienced since joining the royal family and that she told Harry she didn’t want to be alive anymore.

She said she went to a senior royal staffer and said she needed to get help for her mental health, but was told it would be bad for the family if she did. She described the moment as a breaking point leading to her and Harry stepping aside from their royal duties.

Meghan said she wasn’t planning to say anything shocking” during the interview, I’m just telling you what happened.” Meghan Markle told Oprah Winfrey that she realized soon after marrying Prince Harry that the institution of the royal family would not protect her. In their pre-taped interview on Sunday night, Meghan told Winfrey that not only was I not being protected, but they were willing to lie to protect other members of the family, but they weren’t willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband. She did not give specific examples. She said when she was first pregnant with son Archie, there were concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born. The statement led Winfrey to ask What, incredulously and sit in silence for a moment.

Meghan declined to say who had this conversation with Harry that he relayed to her, saying revealing their name would be very damaging. Meghan also said she was stunned when she was told he would not be a prince and would not receive security from the palace. Meghan said she did not worry about being a divorced, mixed-race American actress entering the British royal family, but later she thought about it because they made me think about it.

Meghan said it was not so much the royal family members themselves who treated her this way, but the people behind the institution. She emphasised that the queen herself has always been wonderful to me.” Meghan Markle told Oprah Winfrey that she didn’t fully understand what the job was when she married Prince Harry. Winfrey’s hotly anticipated two-hour pre-recorded interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex began its airing on CBS in the US on Sunday night, with Meghan sitting alone with Winfrey. The two talked about the early days before the royal marriage, with Meghan saying there was no way to understand what the day-to-day was going to be like.

”That’s what was really tricky over those past few years, is when the perception and the reality are two very different things,” Meghan said. And you’re being judged on the perception, but you’re living the reality of it. Meghan also revealed that she and Harry were technically married a few days before the ceremony watched by the world.

Also Read: Jeff Bezos’s ex-wife MacKenzie Scott marries Seattle teacher

After a brief intro with Winfrey narrating a recounting of the couple’s wedding and the subsequent announcement that they were stepping down from their royal duties, Meghan walked into the backyard garden setting of the interview. ”You really are having a baby! Winfrey shouted when she saw Meghan’s baby bump under her black empire-style dress.

Meghan said she would reveal the sex of the baby later in the interview when Harry joined them. Winfrey and Meghan said they were at the home of a friend of Winfrey’s because they liked the setting. They clarified that no questions would be off limits and that Meghan and Harry would not be paid for the interview.

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Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Prince Harry tells Oprah Winfrey he worried history would repeat itself

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Prince Harry, who shocked Britain last year when he and his wife Meghan stepped back from royal duties, told US interviewer Oprah Winfrey that he had worried about history repeating itself, according to excerpts released on Sunday.

The CBS broadcast network released two brief clips from Winfrey’s interview of the couple, which is scheduled to air on March 7. It is the first TV interview the couple, formally known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have given since making their homes in California last year.

”My biggest concern was history repeating itself,” Harry said, apparently referring to his mother Princess Diana, who was hounded by the British press and died at age 36 in a car crash in Paris after her divorce from Prince Charles.

Harry, 36, was seated next to Meghan, 39, and holding her hand. The couple announced this month that they are expecting their second child.

”I’m just really relieved and happy to be sitting here talking to you with my wife by my side,” Harry said. ”Because I can’t imagine what it must have been like for her (Diana), going through this process by herself all those years ago. ”It’s been unbelievably tough for the two of us, but at least we had each other,” Harry added.

In the clips, Winfrey said that no subject was off-limits and at one point tells the couple ”you have said some pretty shocking things here,” including that their situation had been ”almost unsurvivable.”

Before they moved to California, the couple had complained about the British tabloids’ treatment of Meghan, whose father is white and mother is African-American, some of which they said amounted to bullying or racism.

Earlier this month, Buckingham Palace announced that the couple would not be returning to their lives as working members of the royal family.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Oprah Winfrey to interview Prince Harry, Meghan Markle on CBS

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Veteran talk show host Oprah Winfrey will interview Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, for a CBS primetime special. The announcement comes on the heels of the couple announcing that Meghan is pregnant with their second child. Their son, Archie, is 21 months old.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the special is titled ”Oprah With Meghan and Harry” and it will air on the network on March 7. It will be Prince Harry and former actor Meghan’s first sit-down interview since their engagement in 2017. The 90-minute programme will see the couple discuss their marriage, philanthropic efforts and their move away from Britain’s royal family with Oprah, who also attended their wedding in 2018.

In early 2020, Meghan and Harry announced they would ”step back” from their positions as senior members of the British royal family and moved to North America, citing what they said were the unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media. They recently bought a house in Santa Barbara, California. Since then, the couple have signed an overall deal with Netflix to produce programming for the streamer and a podcast deal at Spotify.

Oprah, who is one of the couple’s neighbours, is also teaming up with Harry for a mental health docuseries for Apple TV Plus. Winfrey’s Harpo Productions is producing the CBS special. Terry Wood and Tara Montgomery are attached to executive produce, with Brian Piotrowicz as co-executive producer.

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Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

New year, new headache for Queen Elizabeth with Harry and Meghan rift

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Queen Elizabeth II ended 2019 with a public plea for global harmony after a rocky year. She’s starting 2020 trying to heal disharmony within her own family after Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, decided to “step back” as senior royals — and announced the news without consulting the monarch.

As the British media went into meltdown, the royal matriarch moved quickly to take back control, summoning her son and heir Prince Charles and grandsons Prince William and Harry to a crisis meeting to sort things out. Elizabeth, who assumed the throne in 1952, has weathered family crises before, and is determined not to let her restless grandson and granddaughter-in-law weaken the House of Windsor or undermine the monarchy.

After initial talks between courtiers to the senior royals over the couple’s unorthodox declaration of independence, Buckingham Palace said Saturday that the queen would meet Monday at her Sandringham estate in eastern England with Charles, William and Harry to agree on “next steps.””

The palace said “a range of possibilities” was on the table, but the queen was determined to resolve the situation within “days not weeks.”

Harry’s next scheduled public appearance is a rugby event at Buckingham Palace on Thursday. Meghan, meanwhile, has flown to Canada, where the couple and their 8-month-old son, Archie, spent a six-week Christmas break. They announced this week they plan to “balance” their time between the UK and North America, with Canada their likely base. Meghan is American but lived in Toronto for several years while filming the TV show “Suits.”

The prince and the former actress married in 2018, and broadcasts of their Windsor Castle wedding were watched around the world. Harry, 35, is sixth in line to the British throne, a former British army officer and one of the royal family’s most popular members.

He has spent his entire life in the public eye, but has not always been happy with scrutiny by a media he blames for the death of his mother, Princess Diana. She died in a car crash in Paris in 1997 while being pursued by photographers.

British tabloids have a voracious appetite for stories about the royal family, who are treated as an engrossing national soap opera. While much royal media coverage is positive, it is also relentless. At times, news outlets have crossed the line from invasive to illegal, as when the News of the World hacked the voicemails of Prince William and royal staff in search of scoops during the early 2000s.

Some columnists have been critical of Meghan, depicting her as a meddling American interloper into the royal family; others highlighted her biracial heritage with words like “exotic.” In 2017, Harry accused the media of directing “a wave of abuse and harassment” at his then-girlfriend that included articles with negative “racial undertones.”

Harry and Meghan’s shock decision to become part-time royals who earn their own money came after a rough year for the queen. In September she was drawn into the UK’s political discord over Brexit when Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked her to suspend Parliament as lawmakers tried to thwart his plans to take Britain out of the European Union. The Supreme Court ruled that the suspension was illegal and Johnson had misled the monarch about his reasons for it.

In November, her son Prince Andrew gave a disastrous television interview about his friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. His awkward performance failed to silence questions about the queen’s second son, who has relinquished royal duties and patronages after being accused by a woman who says she was an Epstein trafficking victim and claims to have slept with the prince.

In her annual televised message to the nation on Christmas Day, the queen appeared to allude to both national and family divisions when she said that the path to harmony and understanding “is not always smooth, and may at times this year have felt quite bumpy.”

She urged people to “set aside past differences and come together in the spirit of friendship and reconciliation.”

Ironically, some of Meghan and Harry’s unhappiness may stem from the queen’s efforts to strengthen the monarchy by making it more lean and slimmed down. An image released by Buckingham Palace last week of the queen and the three heirs next in line to the throne — Charles, William and William’s son George — appeared to underscore who the Windsors see as their core members.

“From Harry and Meghan’s point of view, they’re just being driven out,” Tom Bradby, an ITV television anchor who is close to the couple, said.

The discord comes at a delicate time for Britain’s monarchy. The queen remains robust, but at age 93 she has handed over a growing number of public duties to Charles and William. Her husband of 72 years, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, has retired from public life and was recently hospitalized.

“It’s hard not to think that if the Duke of Edinburgh had been around and in circulation more, that perhaps this particular situation wouldn’t have got out of control,” Majesty magazine managing editor Joe Little said. “The queen may be head of state, but the duke is still very much head of the family, although inevitably at 98 and a half, he’s much less hands-on than he used to be.”

The queen values stability and has personal experience of the tumult that can be caused by affairs of the heart.

She was not born to reign, but became heir to the throne at age 10, when her uncle King Edward VIII abdicated so he could marry divorced American Wallis Simpson, making Elizabeth’s father King George VI.

The current rift is not a crisis on that scale, but royal historian Hugo Vickers said Harry’s “quest for personal happiness” ahead of duty was reminiscent of Edward VIII and represented a similar anomaly within the royal family.

“The queen has always done her duty first,” Vickers told broadcaster ITV. “And people like Prince Philip and Princess Anne and obviously (Charles) the Prince of Wales have all been tremendously good at being there to support the queen whenever she needs them.”

While Harry and Meghan’s plans have drawn a mixed response in Britain, there has been near-universal sympathy for the queen. That extended to US President Donald Trump, who said Friday that the family situation she’s dealing with was “sad.”

“I just have such respect for the queen,” Trump told Fox News. “I don’t think this should be happening to her.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Final wave from Harry, Meghan?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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There’s a right royal crisis in Britain! In what could almost be the latest episode from the popular TV series The Crown, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle are giving up their royal duties. They have announced plans to step down as senior members of their blue-blooded family. And though he is not a king or even a crown prince, the move by young Harry and his glam mixed-race bride is being seen as an abdication.

The decision has sent not just the media but also the public into a tizzy. To the people, this is Wally Simpson and Edward VIII all over again. On the heels of Prince Andrew’s friendship with late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein comes this new mortification for Queen Elizabeth and family.

When Harry met Meghan he had already broken up with two serious girlfriends – Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas – because they couldn’t, it was said, cope with how public their lives would become if they married him. From Diana and Fergie to Kate and Camilla, they have all suffered unblinking scrutiny; topless photos and videos of counting cash and tapped telephones and fatal car chase.

Meghan being older then Harry, her divorcee status, her having dealt with the media as a TV star (Suits) led all to believe she would not be a damsel in distress post-marriage, that she will understand the pressures of living in a goldfish bowl and adjust accordingly. The duchess was hailed as the rescuer of a mother-less prince.

Straight-off there was the mushy hand-holding. Unlike his elder brother Prince William and wife Kate Middleton, who always maintain a respectable distance between them, this couple could only walk as one. Soon it was an us-and-them situation. Them against everyone else.

Then came the embarrassments of an expensive baby shower abroad, virtue signalling as eco-warriors, the rift with her family and her teary TV confession that no one asks her if she is okay.

But this exit by them – though recorded in memes and edits – has a surreal soap opera feel to it. The optics are dramatic, with the announcement coming on Kate’s birthday, eclipsing her big day. Reportedly not even the couple’s own press team in the UK knew what was brewing back in Canada during their Christmas break.

Headlines range from ‘Brit hits the fan’ to ‘Megxit’, with them even being described as wannabe Kardashians. Meghan’s dad, naturally, said he was ‘disappointed’, estranged as he is. And, according to a former chef, Harry is an ‘airhead’ just like his mom.

The couple, who have a new website, is to divide time between the UK and North America, looking at earning ‘professional income’ and have blasted ‘misreporting’ by the press. Will they, won’t they lose their HRH titles is the question on everyone’s tongue. Of course, they can earn millions via TV shows, book deals, ad endorsements and live happily ever after outside the UK.

While the Queen and everyone around her calmly wished Kate a happy birthday to circumvent this bombshell news, public imagination pictures Meghan and Harry making a dash for the palace doors with baby Archie in hand. To live life king-size, they have decided to leave the castle.

Shinie Antony is a writer and editor based in Bangalore. Her books include The Girl Who Couldn’t Love, Barefoot and Pregnant, Planet Polygamous, and the anthologies Why We Don’t Talk, An Unsuitable Woman, Boo. Winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Asia Prize for her story A Dog’s Death in 2003, she is the co-founder of the Bangalore Literature Festival and director of the Bengaluru Poetry Festival.

Read Shinie Antony’s columns here.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Royals Harry and Meghan step back from senior roles in surprise move

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Prince Harry and his wife Meghan will step back from senior roles in Britain’s royal family and spend more time in North America, they said on Wednesday, an announcement that appears to have taken his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, by surprise.

After a turbulent year which saw a widening rift with the media and a falling out with elder brother Prince William, Harry said the couple hoped to become financially independent and set up a new charity, while continuing some royal duties.

“After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution,” said Harry, sixth in line to the throne, and former actress Meghan in a statement.

“We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to the Queen, the Commonwealth and our patronages.”

The couple said they would share full details of “this exciting next step” soon as they discussed the move with the queen, Harry’s father Prince Charles and William.

But the timing of the announcement appeared to have wrongfooted family members, including the queen, a senior royal source told Reuters.

“Other members of the family were not consulted on the content,” the source added.

Buckingham Palace said discussions with Harry and Meghan were at an early stage.

“We understand their desire to take a different approach but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through,” it said.

Relationship with media sours

Harry, 35, and Meghan, 38, a divorcee whose mother is African-American and father is white, married in May 2018 in a lavish ceremony in Windsor Castle, and at the time it was heralded as a sign of a more modern monarchy.

Last year Meghan gave birth to their first child, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.

But their relationship with the press turned sour as they struggled to deal with the intense scrutiny it put them under.

There have been negative stories about them, criticising their use of private jets while promoting environmental causes and the 2.4 million pound ($3.08 million) taxpayer-funded renovation of their new home.

Eventually the couple, whose titles are the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, began legal action against some tabloid newspapers in October over phone-hacking and invasion of privacy.

Harry described the treatment of his wife as “bullying”, and likened it to that of his mother Princess Diana before her death in a Paris car accident in 1997 when her limousine crashed as it sped away from chasing paparazzi.

“I never thought that this would be easy, but I thought it would be fair, and that is the part that is really hard to reconcile,” a tearful Meghan said in a TV interview as she described the difficulty of being a new mother and dealing with incessant scrutiny.

Harry also admitted to disagreements with William, who is second-in-line to the throne.

The future

Harry and Meghan did not spell out what they were planning or where in North America they might live.

Last year it was reported that Harry would be executive producer of a documentary on mental health with US television mogul Oprah Winfrey for Apple’s video streaming service.

They said splitting time between Britain and North America “would enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter.”

Harry and William received more than 5 million pounds from their father, Prince Charles, last year and it was not immediately clear how Harry and Meghan would achieve financial independence.

Royal biographer Penny Junor said it was possible Meghan, who starred in TV legal drama “Suits”, might revive her acting career given the demand and fees she could command.

“Perhaps she’d have to be careful about what roles she’d do because she is a member of the royal family,” Junor said.

Last year was one of the hardest of Elizabeth’s record-breaking 67-year reign, culminating in her second son Andrew stepping down from royal duties over his association with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

The Meghan Factor – always on the wrong side

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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So a prince who will never be king marries a soap actress. You’d think it their business and that the common people, British or worldwide, can get on with their lives. But Harry’s bride appears to be that red rag to the bull raging in most of us. Tabloids and trolls alike have much to say and most of it rude.

Meghan Markle got hate mail from the outset. First Harry appealed to the press to please leave her alone, straightaway identifying us as the enemy. Then he said something about his family being the family she never had, and her family went ‘eh?’ Soon her dad posed for pictures to make some money, and then came a step-sister who called Meghan ‘Princess Pushy’. Only her mother was at her wedding from her side of the family.

A series of PR disasters followed: penning messages to sex workers on bananas, making sis-in-law Kate cry, a fancy baby shower in the US, secrecy during birth and baptism, spending the tax-payer’s money to redo her new home, bodyguards at Wimbledon who asked she not be photographed… Public hatred peaked with her bump being called fake. Yes, she is woke, but maybe too woke? Even Harry’s latest posh pedicure is attributed to her.

Meghan was dismissed from her first interview on, where she clung to Harry’s arm, spoke over him and looked to be the one wearing the pants. Biracial but there are rumours of fairness creams, and her hair is too straight. Divorcee but the murmurs are of two, not one, divorce. Writer Gary Janetti’s insta page, which has many anti-Meghan witticisms, is a big hit. Recently an article hinted that as the eldest of the Fab Four – William-Kate-Harry-Meghan – she should be the more mature one. He misses his mom, was another snide reaction to her being older to Harry.

Now by guest-editing Vogue, she opened yet another can of worms. Laura Kennedy of The Irish Times wrote: ‘The problem with this is that Markle is not a magazine editor, politician or activist.’ When her reason for not going on the cover came out – would be ‘boastful’ – it was seen as a criticism of Kate who has appeared on its cover. Meghan’s ‘Forces for Change’ cover had 15 of inspirational women; the 16^th spot, ever so twee, being a mirror so that the reader herself is the next. A fun-house mirror, apparently, where we see ourselves wonky. The cover itself stands accused of ‘inspiration’ from Samantha Brett and Steph Adams’ best-selling book The Game Changers.

Of course, a passive-aggressive compliment does come her way now and then. Like how she didn’t turn herself skinny immediately after giving birth. But in photos where she stands next to microscopic Kate, paparazzi seems to point out the two waistlines.

Much of the vitriol can be traced back to the fact that she was one of us before she became one of them – a struggling, ageing actor trying to hit big time. Suddenly she is on the other side, waving delicately at us. She had a choice, we felt: represent us or them. She did not choose us.

There’s a reason why Cinderella’s story ends with the wedding.

Shinie Antony is a writer and editor based in Bangalore. Her books include The Girl Who Couldn’t Love, Barefoot and Pregnant, Planet Polygamous, and the anthologies Why We Don’t Talk, An Unsuitable Woman, Boo. Winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Asia Prize for her story A Dog’s Death in 2003, she is co-founder of the Bangalore Literature Festival and director of the Bengaluru Poetry Festival.

Read Shinie Antony’s columns here.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Pssst… some girly gossip from around the world

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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In woman news from around the world, headlines flex pinkly from UK PM Theresa May’s teary resignation to errors in author Naomi Wolf’s brand new book, oh dear. In between we have MacKenzie Bezos happily pledging half her fortune away, which has people trying to sniff out a ‘so there!’ to ex Jeff, and Kim Kardashian announcing the birth of her fourth child, which has people hoping different surrogates are being used at the rate she is amassing kids. With Saint and Psalm already in, little Bible and Palm Sunday may not be far behind.

Not to miss the rise of the ‘Wife Guys’ on social media, whose sole claim to fame is their wives and what the wives say or do. So the posts revolve around the women in their lives and their influencer status depends on how many views the videos of their wives get. For example, there is the Cliff Wife Guy, whose Twitter video shows spouse Jenny falling off a cliff in Hawaii. Step aside Trophy Wives, the Viral Wife is here.

The sight of May in tears, with the drama of Brexit in the backdrop, was emotional. But Wolf’s composure in the face of a correction by broadcaster Matthew Sweet live on BBC radio was just the opposite. He pointed out that the 19th century English legal term ‘death recorded’ doesn’t mean what she thought it meant; it means pardon for a convict and not the death sentence. Wolf’s forthcoming book Outrages: Sex, Censorship, and the Criminalization of Love will now need some quick edits by publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; all those ‘executions’ turn out to be actually reprieves. So sodomy did happen in the Victorian era, but no one was hanged.

Meanwhile new princess Meghan Markle is now a new mommy. Prince Harry’s wife is losing sleep one way or another. While her A-lister pals swear by her empathy and general genuineness, her former z-lister friends call her a social climber. George Clooney and Oprah Winfrey may gush about her, but a step-sister and pals from a previous era speak of her blithely ghosting them. British TV presenter Lizzie Cundy claims in her autobiography Tales From The Red Carpet: “We were having a girly chat and then she said, ‘Do you know any famous guys? I’m single and I really love English men’. So I said, ‘We’ll go out and find you someone’.” Then Harry appeared on the scene and Lizzie says she never heard from Megs again.

Let’s end on a feminist note with the new Jasmine on the block, the one in Guy Ritchie’s Aladdin, a movie more Bollywood than Disney. Though mostly panned for showing ‘a whole old world’ and shortchanging us with Will Smith as the Genie when we still remember Robin Williams who voiced this character in the 1992 version, the princess here would rather rule than make rotis. Of course, in the end like all good heroines she is by her man’s side, but she does sing Speechless, however token the reference to women’s rights. For an imaginary girl in an ancient folk tale that is a feisty enough turn.

Shinie Antony is a writer and editor based in Bangalore. Her books include The Girl Who Couldn’t Love, Barefoot and Pregnant, Planet Polygamous, and the anthologies Why We Don’t Talk, An Unsuitable Woman, Boo. Winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Asia Prize for her story A Dog’s Death in 2003, she is co-founder of the Bangalore Literature Festival and director of the Bengaluru Poetry Festival.

Read Shinie Antony’s columns here 

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow