Jessica, meanwhile, apparently broke the news of the marriage ending to friends when she attended a wedding in Toronto last month, alongside sports icon LeBron James<\/a> and the singer Drake<\/a> \u2013 alone.<\/p>\n Lawyers are apparently already involved.<\/p>\n Jessica, of course, is best known here for being chief bridesmaid to Meghan, Duchess of Sussex<\/a>, when she married Prince Harry<\/a>.<\/p>\n Indeed, so close were the two women that Jessica and her family took on prominent roles at the Royal wedding<\/a>. Her twin sons, Brian and John, were pageboys \u2013 with cheeky, gappy smiles and outfits which were an adorable echo in miniature of Harry\u2019s Blues and Royals frock coat \u2013 while daughter Ivy was a bridesmaid alongside Princess Charlotte<\/a>.<\/p>\n Today, though, the women are best friends no more. Jessica is unlikely to receive any comfort at this difficult time from Montecito. Meghan seemingly dropped Jessica after she became entangled in a distressing and highly publicised online race row with a blogger in 2020, more of which later.<\/p>\n In contrast, at the time Jessica\u2019s husband, son of the late Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, appeared to back his wife to the hilt. He even left his job as a television presenter at the height of the row in support of her.<\/p>\n Jessica Mulroney is best known for being chief bridesmaid to Meghan when she married Harry in 2018.\u00a0Today, though, they are no longer best friends<\/p>\n Jessica pictured with the Princess of Wales at Meghan’s wedding. Jessica’s twin sons, Brian and John, were pageboys at the Royal wedding, while her daughter Ivy was a bridesmaid alongside Princess Charlotte<\/p>\n Married for 16 years, Jessica and Ben Mulroney were a \u2018power couple\u2019 in Toronto, a status fuelled by the 45-year-old posting scenes of domestic perfection featuring her husband and sons<\/p>\n Despite those efforts, now the marriage is over.<\/p>\n A source said this week: \u2018That whole incident later caused tensions, even in her marriage.\u2019<\/p>\n Yet surprisingly, at root, one well-placed source says that Jessica herself traces her current unhappiness back not to her bruising online scandal \u2013 but to that glorious day in 2018 when she watched her then best friend walk down the aisle of St George\u2019s Chapel in Windsor.<\/p>\n So much so that now, rather than looking back on her brush with history with pride, a perfectly placed source reveals: \u2018Jessica says now that she somewhat regrets becoming friends with Meghan.<\/p>\n \u2018While she enjoyed all the exposure it brought her at the time, that same exposure is what caused her social media rift to blow up in the way it did and led to the end of her friendship with Meghan and her marriage.\u2019<\/p>\n The source adds: \u2018If she could go back, a part of her wishes she was never part of that wedding.<\/p>\n \u2018She really did consider Meghan family. But now she sees that whole time as a \u201cdark cloud\u201d\u2019.<\/p>\n Married for 16 years, Jessica and Ben were a \u2018power couple\u2019 in Toronto, a status fuelled by Jessica posting glossy scenes of domestic perfection featuring her handsome husband, their sons, now 14, and daughter, now 12.<\/p>\n With stylish Jessica at her side, Meghan turned from a jobbing LA actress to a more sophisticated figure<\/p>\n Jessica and Ben pose in a photo posted on her Instagram account. Ben’s last mention of her on his Instagram was back in 2023, when they attended a charity event together<\/p>\n The scandal that enveloped Jessica came out of a clear blue sky in June 2020 when Sasha Exeter, pictured, a black lifestyle blogger from Toronto, posted a 12-minute Instagram video. In it she said that Jessica had threatened her in private, and called her out for \u2018white privilege\u2019<\/p>\n What she showed was a high-status family life, enviable in every way \u2013 from her endless parade of designer clothes and perfect hair to the family\u2019s large house complete with a gigantic shoe closet and azure swimming pool.<\/p>\n Over the past few months, however, her Instagram account has provided pointers to the current state of affairs. She hasn\u2019t been wearing her wedding ring in social media posts \u2013 not since March. At that point, she and Ben were clearly still a couple as she joked about them forgetting their wedding anniversary, again, and also posted a picture of him eating cake at home to wish him Happy Birthday.<\/p>\n However, by May things seemed to have deteriorated. Ben wished his own mother a happy Mother\u2019s Day, but didn\u2019t mention his wife.<\/p>\n Indeed, his last mention of Jessica on his Instagram was back in 2023, when they attended a charity event together.<\/p>\n As for Jessica, her most recent post in June is a striking black and white portrait of herself. She looks sombre, and as if she has lost a lot of weight \u2013 and she was tiny before.<\/p>\n Was this image her way of marking her new beginnings as a single woman?<\/p>\n Neither she nor Ben responded to requests for comment this week.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a sad ending for a couple who first met when he was 17 and she just 14.<\/p>\n They had been married for six years when Jessica met Meghan in 2014. Jessica, a stylist who had been dubbed \u2018the fairy godmother of Canadian fashion\u2019 by Harper\u2019s Bazaar, already had significant social cachet, working for the then First Lady Sophie Trudeau among others.<\/p>\n Meghan, meanwhile, was divorced from her first husband, producer Trevor Engelson, dating celebrity chef Cory Vitiello and living in Toronto where she was filming Suits.<\/p>\n Theirs was a female friendship which seemed to match two women with identical outlooks and ambitions.<\/p>\n Well-connected gossip columnist Shinan Govani told me: \u2018The Jessica Mulroney relationship was key in that it opened up Meghan\u2019s world. It\u2019s what connected her to people like [the then Canadian premier] Justin Trudeau and Sophie, and also to Markus Anderson, the global membership director of Soho House.\u2019<\/p>\n With stylish Jessica at her side, Meghan turned from a jobbing LA actress to a more sophisticated figure. They even took a \u2018girl squad\u2019 trip to Europe together in 2015, which Jessica called a #fakehoneymoon, adding \u2018Happy wife happy life\u2019 to images she posted accompanying the trip.<\/p>\n It was towards the end of that vacation that Meghan had her first date with Prince Harry. And when news of the royal romance broke in 2016, Jessica helped Meghan get to London, secretly, to be with him.<\/p>\n In the book Finding Freedom, author Omid Scobie says Jessica arranged for Meghan to use the private jet of the Canadian real-estate power couple Krystal Koo and Michael Cooper: \u2018Long-time friends of Jessica\u2019s, the couple… were more than happy to help.\u2019<\/p>\n Indeed, as time went on, Jessica became intimately involved in Meghan\u2019s romance with Harry. As revealed in the blockbuster Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan, Meghan was FaceTiming her when Prince Harry was about to propose. The programme showed Meghan squeaking: \u2018Oh my God, Jess, it\u2019s happening.\u2019<\/p>\n Jessica helped to style Meghan for her engagement photocall, and later travelled with her on her first Royal tour to Australia, again as a stylist but also as a best friend and sounding board.<\/p>\n The scandal that enveloped Jessica came out of a clear blue sky in June 2020 when Sasha Exeter, a black lifestyle blogger from Toronto, posted a 12-minute Instagram video. In it she said that Jessica had threatened her in private, and called her out for \u2018white privilege\u2019.<\/p>\n The two women had been messaging in private after Exeter implored everyone to speak out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Jessica seemingly then reacted badly when she was criticised by Exeter for a post promoting her television show.<\/p>\n Exeter said Jessica then bombarded her with \u2018offensive messages\u2019, including a threat that she had spoken to companies that worked with her. She called the behaviour \u2018a threat to my livelihood\u2019 and an \u2018attempt to silence a black woman during this movement behind closed doors\u2019.<\/p>\n Jessica quickly posted a public apology, saying: \u2018I need to acknowledge and understand [Exeter\u2019s experience]. I am unequivocally sorry for not doing that with you, and for any hurt I caused. As I told you privately, I have lived a very public and personal experience with my closest friend where race was front and centre.\u2019<\/p>\n Note the reference to Meghan.<\/p>\n But \u2013 according to Exeter \u2013 Jessica then sent her another post which read: \u2018Liable [sic} suit. Good luck.\u2019 This, apparently, was a threat to sue her for libel.<\/p>\n The flame was then well and truly lit, and Exeter then wrote: \u2018Here\u2019s what happens when you call out someone with privilege and wealth. They publicly apologise on your post to preserve their image while privately threaten a lawsuit to try and shut you up.\u2019<\/p>\n Every company Jessica worked with dropped her. She was axed from her regular appearances on Good Morning America and the Canadian network CTV dropped her reality wedding show I Do, Redo.<\/p>\n As her life crumbled, her husband\u2019s on-air colleague Elaine Lui rather cruelly accused her of using Meghan as her \u2018superpower\u2019 \u2013 presumably a reference to Jessica using Meghan\u2019s experience with racism as part of her defence.<\/p>\n Ben then opted to step away from his job at etalk, an entertainment news programme, saying in a statement: \u2018More than ever, we need more Black voices, more Indigenous voices, more people of colour in the media as well as every other profession \u2013 and that is why I have decided to immediately step away from my role at etalk to create space for a new perspective and a new voice.\u2019<\/p>\n Three months after the scandal, Jessica gave an interview in which she said: \u2018I am not racist\u2019. She also spoke of her hopes to move on, but admitted: \u2018I still feel a lot of shame. I feel that people believe the worst in me.\u2019<\/p>\n She added: \u2018I had a hard time dealing with the fact that a network like CTV [and] the companies I\u2019ve worked with for many years \u2013 and journalists, some of which [sic] were my friends \u2013 spoke with incredible authority on what they believed had happened without even contacting me. I think that hurt the most.\u2019<\/p>\n She also denied ever exploiting her connection to Meghan.<\/p>\n At the time, sources said that the friendship was not what it once was, but not because of the scandal. \u2018Of course Meghan has been worried about Jess. She\u2019ll always have love for her,\u2019 said one in 2020. Jessica herself said that the Duchess \u2018constantly FaceTimes and checks up on me\u2019.<\/p>\n But in truth the friendship quietly ended pretty much on the spot. Today Meghan \u2013 who once left baby Archie with Jessica when she went on a trip to the UK \u2013 no longer sees or speaks to her. Any public praise, like the gushing statement she previously made about Jessica on her blog The Tig calling her \u2018savvy and fashionable and tr\u00e8s cool, and also va va va voom pritaaaaay\u2019, has been notably absent.<\/p>\n For her part, Jessica no longer follows Meghan or her brands on Instagram.<\/p>\n In the wake of the scandal, it was widely reported that Jessica had to resort to antidepressants. One source told the media said that anxiety she had been dealing with since she was 12 had turned into severe depression and suicidal thoughts. So dark was her mood, her mother had to come to care for her.<\/p>\n A source said: \u2018Jess couldn\u2019t talk without crying. She didn\u2019t feel like herself on the meds and she didn\u2019t want to talk to anyone. She could barely respond to a text message.\u2019<\/p>\n Ben was quoted as telling a friend at the time: \u2018I would wake up and Jess wouldn\u2019t be in bed, and my mind would go to the worst.\u2019<\/p>\n She later admitted she \u2018never thought I\u2019d have to go through intense treatment the way I did this year\u2019, and said she\u2019d found hope and happiness through \u2018sobriety and therapy\u2019.<\/p>\n She went on: \u2018It can be lonely having the world, friends distance from you and not even ask how you are. But, thankfully, you find the things that truly matter\u2026.\u2019<\/p>\n One of these things was her marriage. Ben wrote a glowing post of praise two months later, in October 2021, saying: \u2018Nothing and no one gives me more joy or fills me with more pride or stirs in me more passion or embraces me with more love than this woman.<\/p>\n \u2018Jessie, you are my everything\u2026 now that I have you, I am never letting you go. I love you, Sweet sweet.\u2019<\/p>\n But Ben \u2013 once a darling of the liberal Left who has now pivoted to become a Right-wing shock jock \u2013 has seemingly decided it\u2019s time to cut his \u2018everything\u2019 loose.<\/p>\n As for Jessica\u2019s one time best friend, Meghan?<\/p>\n Well, she apparently delivered the coup de grace to their association earlier this year when actress and comedian Mindy Kaling \u2013 Jessica\u2019s most famous client before Meghan \u2013 was invited on to her lifestyle TV show, With Love Meghan. Was it a message to her former friend? As one source puts it with some restraint: \u2018That seemed very cruel.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If ever there\u2019s a time when one needs a best friend for a shoulder to cry on, it\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[97,96,59,103,23174,98,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-40167","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-gb","11":"tag-instagram","12":"tag-jessica-mulroney","13":"tag-royals","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Jessica](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/100847685-14962965-image-m-11_1754059140224.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Jessica](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/100848287-14962965-image-a-15_1754059500016.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Married](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/100847691-14962965-image-m-13_1754059193123.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"With](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/100847695-14962965-image-a-16_1754059645824.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Jessica](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/100847693-14962965-image-a-17_1754059650525.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/100847701-14962965-image-a-18_1754059656798.jpg\")
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