“Made in Chelsea” alum Millie Mackintosh felt Meghan Markle tossed their friendship aside once the Duchess of Sussex started dating Prince Harry.
“Years ago, I’d say about eight years ago, I went to the opening of a hotel in Istanbul and I met Meghan Markle,” the British reality star, 33, recalled on Wednesday’s episode of her podcast, “Mumlemmas & More with Millie & Charlie.”
Mackintosh — who said she has never discussed her experience with the duchess, 41, publicly until now — said she was a “fan” of Markle’s show “Suits” and they had an instant connection when they met.
“We met at the bar and we were both ordering a drink at the same time,” Mackintosh further recalled.
“I started chatting and we got on really well. We got on like a house on fire and spent the night partying and having fun and we just stayed in touch.”
Mackintosh said that Markle then traveled to London and didn’t really know anyone or her way around the city, so she took the actress under her wing.
“I took her to my favorite spots and she didn’t know that many people so I kind of connected her with the best places to get your nails done, like my little black book. I gave her just like all my contacts,” the makeup artist said.
Mackintosh added that she and Markle bonded over their divorces.
The former “Deal or No Deal” model ended her marriage to first husband Trevor Engelson in 2011 and the reality star split with rapper Professor Green in 2016.
They also both connected over being into “wellness” and blogging, as Markle was running her now-defunct lifestyle website, The Tig, at the time.
“We were both kind of into the same things and we probably hang out like a handful of times,” Mackintosh said, adding, “I definitely would say we were not best friends but when she was in town she would let me know and we would sometimes hangout.”
According to the model, the close pals’ friendship changed after they had their last interaction at a hotel in the Cotswolds in southern England.
“She was staying there and said, ‘Just come and hang out.’ What I thought was going to be like a day of yoga and chilling ended up being rosé and margaritas in the pool and we had, like, a really fun afternoon,” Mackintosh said, adding that Markle was “really fun.”
The duchess’ former friend then noted, “That was the last time I saw her.”
Mackintosh said that during their final hangout, Markle divulged that she was seeing Harry and figuring out where things were going to go.
“I thought, ‘Great that’s nice for her,’ the podcaster said, adding, “I don’t know [Harry] just to clarify. I never met him.
“I was, like, ‘Great,’ didn’t really ask too much about him. Didn’t really think too much about it at the time. If only I had known.”
When Harry, 38, and Markle’s relationship came out in the press months later, Mackintosh said things “blew up” in the media so she reached out to make sure her friend was ok.
“I do know what it’s like to have a lot of media attention. It can be really overwhelming and it can be unpleasant, so I messaged her and just said like, ‘Hey, hope you’re ok. Thinking of you,'” Mackintosh said.
“And [Markle] just sent me this really abrupt message that was really unlike any of our communication before.”
Mackintosh noted that the now-royal didn’t mention Harry when she checked in.
“What I read from that message was that she maybe needed a bit of space. Maybe needed to cool off, she was angry, she was maybe under a lot of pressure … So I didn’t message her again … But I did expect that we would stay in touch,” the influencer said.
Mackintosh then said she thought Markle would message her back to apologize but got the opposite.
“She cut me dead,” Mackintosh. “I never heard from her again and I never messaged her again because I felt like she kind of told me to f–k off basically in that message. Meghan Markle ghosted me, babe.”
Mackintson said that she thinks Markle cut her out of her life because she was going to be “royal now” and didn’t need her in her life anymore.
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“What could I offer her at that point? She had met her prince. I was on a reality show so … I’m guessing she was like, ‘I can’t be associated with ‘Made in Chelsea.’ I’m going to be royal.'”
Mackintosh said was most hurtful for her, though, was that the media thought she and Markle were still very close friends and that she was involved in the actress’ union with Harry, which the reality star called “total bollocks.”
When Mackintosh wasn’t at the Sussex’s wedding in 2018, she said there were “loads” of inaccurate stories claiming she had been uninvited.
“That was quite hurtful because I hadn’t done anything, but my name is being dragged through it in quite a negative way,” the podcaster shared. “It was a bit embarrassing.”
Mackintosh said she is now over their falling out but recalled feeling “a bit like s–t” when Markle and Harry married because her ex-friend had completely cut off all communication.
“We did get on really well and I do not wish her any bad,” the reality star noted.
Markle and Harry started dating in 2016 and got engaged a year later. They wed the next year in May and now share two kids: Prince Archie, 4, and Princess Lilibet, 1.
Meanwhile, Mackintosh married British TV personality Hugo Taylor, 36, in 2018 and they share two daughters: Sienna, 2, Aurelia, 1.