Jessica Mulroney, once known as one of Meghan Markle’s closest friends, has unveiled a new lifestyle venture six years after the pair were said to have fallen out in the wake of a race controversy.
The Canadian stylist first met Meghan in 2011, when the future Duchess of Sussex was living in Toronto while filming the legal drama Suits.
Mulroney’s latest project, The Haus of Her, is billed as a private members’ club and community space for “women in the middle of a defining transition”.
A fashion stylist and marketing consultant, Mulroney built her public profile through bridal styling work and regular appearances as a clothing expert on North American morning television. She also hosted the reality series I Do, Redo, which was cancelled after a race row controversy.
The Haus of Her was founded by Mulroney and businesswoman Val Bryden, who say they created it “in the middle of our own transition”. Membership requests are now open, and the brand is set to host a make-your-own-perfume event at Orris Labs in Toronto on September 15.
Members can also sign up for a monthly subscription box priced at 39 Canadian dollars (£20), which the club says will include “something to invigorate, something to inspire, something to relax”.
Meghan has also moved firmly into the lifestyle and wellness space in recent years, launching her As Ever brand in 2024. The duchess has said the venture draws on her “long-lasting love of cooking, entertaining and hostess-ing with ease”.
Meghan and Jessica’s Reported Rift
Like Mulroney’s new platform, As Ever is aimed at lifestyle-minded consumers, with products spanning scented candles, wine and herbal teas.
Meghan and Jessica’s lives were once remarkably intertwined – with Jessica widely understood as the duchess’s staunchest defender, closest confidant and ‘keeper of secrets’ – including when she began secretly dating Prince Harry in 2016.
But in 2020, Meghan distanced herself after Jessica became embroiled in a race row with blogger Sasha Exeter in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The stylist hasn’t featured in any of Meghan’s public work and the pair do not follow each other on social media.
Despite their once close relationship, insiders claimed the duchess permanently cut ties with Jessica in 2020 after she became embroiled in a ‘feud’ with influencer Sasha Exeter.
At the time, Jessica was said to have ‘taken offence’ to a ‘generic call to action’ post Sasha had shared about the Black Lives Matter movement.
In a follow-up video, Sasha said: ‘I’m by no means calling Jess a racist but what I will say is this: She is very well aware of her wealth, perceived power and privilege because of the colour of her skin and that, my friends, gave her the momentary confidence to come for my livelihood in writing. Textbook white privilege really, in my personal opinion.’
Following the blogger’s claims, Jessica issued three public apologies, however she still faced consequences and was dropped by numerous television networks.
Ben Mulroney Defends His Wife
Last month her husband Ben Mulroney told a podcast how he and his wife were cancelled in June 2020 after Sasha Exeter accused Jessica of white privilege.
In an extraordinary outburst on the No But Seriously Though podcast, Ben said: ‘A racial grifter decided to take advantage of the George Floyd moment and make up a complete fiction about my wife and the country decided to bend over backwards and say: “OK, well, here’s our hero and here’s our villain and everything was taken from my wife overnight”.’
Ben added: ‘What the DMs show is not that this woman was abused by my wife’s white privilege, but that this woman was antagonising my wife and so my wife said, “If you are going to threaten me, I’ll threaten you”.’
Sasha Exeter was previously approached for comment by Our News Outlet.
It was a dramatic end to a once widely publicised friendship – with Meghan often gushing about Jessica online prior to meeting Harry.
Jessica’s twin sons John and Brian, then seven, even had the honour of carrying the train of Meghan’s dress down the aisle at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, while her daughter Ivy was a bridesmaid at the royal wedding alongside Princess Charlotte.
In December 2015, the Duchess said that ‘the room stops’ whenever her friend ‘shows up at an event’.
Referencing the Eighties US sitcom Out of This World, Meghan compared Jessica to the show’s heroine Evie (played by Maureen Flannigan) – who has the ability to freeze time.
Gushing about the effect Jessica has on people, Meghan described her as ‘savvy and fashionable and tres cool, and also va va va voom pritaaaay’.
She continued: ‘And here’s the other thing – she also happens to be an incredible stylist, clothing the likes of Canada’s First Lady, Sophie Trudeau.’
Meghan and Jessica’s Friendship
In her 2022 Netflix documentary, Meghan shared footage of the night Prince Harry proposed in 2017 – where she FaceTimed her friend as she walked the grounds of Kensington Palace.
The day of the royal wedding, Jessica shared snaps captioned: ‘Proud friend. Proud mom.’
While she was still living in Toronto, the duchess was regularly pictured at glamorous events with the Canadian mother-of-three.
Meghan was all over the stylist’s social media page years ago, and Jessica is even understood to have helped pick out the wedding dress for Rachel Zane – the Duchess’s character on Suits.
Jessica was also among several famous faces who organised Meghan’s baby shower in New York City, which is understood to have cost a whopping $500,000.
In 2019, Jessica said her life is an ‘open book’ but when it comes to a certain few things – such as her friendship with Meghan – her lips are completely sealed.
‘This is my first interview that I’ve done since the wedding or anything,’ Jessica told Harper’s Bazaar.
‘Listen, every person has to have a bit of privacy in their life. There are certain things I hold very dear and secret… There are things I’ll never talk about for sure.
‘My life is an open book, but there’s always a few secret pages in the back that nobody will be able to read.’
Meanwhile, as the backlash against Jessica began mounting, Meghan remained quiet and distant on the matter and has not publicly spoken about her friend in years.
One source told Our News Outlet their friendship is no longer ‘what it once was’, adding that this was due to the pair having ‘just grown apart’ and not because of the fallout between Jessica and Sasha.
The insider added: ‘Of course, Meghan has been worried about Jess. She’ll always have love for her.’ Jessica has since tried to rebuild her brand – this time, without Meghan by her side.
