Are Serena Williams and Meghan Markle on the outs as friends? At least one gossip website is making that argument. Gossip Cop can set things straight.
In a recent appearance on Naomi Campbell’s YouTube show, No Filter with Naomi, Serena and Venus Williams spoke with Campbell on a wide variety of subjects. But one subject Serena definitely did not want to talk about was her good friend Meghan Markle. When Campbell asked her about Markle and Prince Harry moving to California, Serena replied, “Don’t know what you’re talking about, don’t know nothing about that.” Campbell gently pushed a little more, mentioning that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are on the west coast, while Serena now lives on east coast, but Serena didn’t budge, answering, “Never seen her, never heard of her, don’t know her.”
Now, the whole world knows that the two are friends. Serena attended the Sussex’s wedding in 2018 and more recently, Meghan Markle was photographed with her sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, taking in one of the tennis star’s matches at Wimbledon last summer. So, does that mean the two are on the outs? One gossip website, Foxella, thinks so. “The fallout between the alliterate former actress and the permanent A++ list athlete is complete. The next level of shade thrown by the athlete this week towards the former actress was impressive,” the blog quoted a “blind item” before labeling it as about Markle and Serena.
It’s obvious who the website is referring to here, but what the item gets wrong is that the “fallout” bit. There hasn’t been a falling out; in fact, Serena Williams is doing something that Markle almost certainly appreciates greatly — not giving gossip merchants any fodder. Meghan Markle is, of course, involved in a serious lawsuit involving a British tabloid, and Prince Harry is very wary of anyone printing made-up stories and rumors about the couple. It’s something so important to him that he addressed it directly in the official announcement of the lawsuit.
In part, the statement read, “There is a human cost to this relentless propaganda, specifically when it is knowingly false and malicious, and though we have continued to put on a brave face — as so many of you can relate to – I cannot begin to describe how painful it has been.” The duke goes on to directly reference how affected he’s been by the tabloids, writing, “I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditized to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.”
Serena Williams was doing what any loyal friend would do: dropping the subject. There was no falling out, there was no malice — there’s only friendship and loyalty.