Edward Enninful texted Meghan as he watched the Sussex-Oprah interview live
Edward Enninful is the powerful editor of British Vogue, and he was the one who asked the Duchess of Sussex to appear on the cover of the magazine in 2019. Meghan declined but countered with an offer to guest edit the magazine’s “Forces For Change” issue. She did just that and the British media screamed and cried about it for MONTHS. Enninful backed her then and he’s still backing her. Last year, some Sussex Squaders got mad at him for saying that the bullsh-t Meghan faced during her time in the UK wasn’t solely about racism. While he could have said it better, I understood what he meant – Meghan faced racism, for sure, but she also faced plain old sexism, misogyny, colonialism, classism, nativism and anti-Americanism. Well, it seems like Edward and Meghan are still very much in touch. He was texting her throughout the Oprah interview:
It was a bravado and brutally frank performance that shocked the nation – but as her controversial Oprah interview was broadcast, the Duchess of Sussex was, it seems, receiving supportive text messages from the editor of British Vogue, Edward Enninful. I can reveal that the style guru, who accepted an OBE from Princess Anne five years ago, was part of a select group of 15 employees of publisher Conde Nast who watched the bombshell interview air in the US via a live video link at their respective UK homes.
They were connected to a TV in the US via Zoom, and I understand that Edward was in ‘constant contact’ with the Duchess via WhatsApp as he watched the ‘soap-Oprah’ unfold.
‘Edward Enninful; Richard Dennen, the editor of Tatler; Sarah Harris, Vogue’s deputy editor; and Olivia Singer, Vogue’s fashion news director, were on the call.’ In a hilarious twist of makeshift ingenuity that would make Heath Robinson proud, this technical arrangement for the titans of fashion was all arranged via the laptop of a staff member’s parents in Florida!
My source adds: ‘You’d think it was a very technical set-up, but actually it was all organised by the parents of Conde Nast communication director, Emily Hallie, who are in their 60s – who simply put their laptop on an ottoman in front of their TV in Florida.
A source close to Conde Nast Britain, tells me: ‘There were around 15 people on the Zoom, all top Conde Nast people. They felt it was important from an editorial perspective that they got together to watch it. It was so cute but very rudimentary. You had the biggest names in Conde Nast dealing with Emily’s slightly fumbling parents. Sometimes you could hear them talking or see them popping up on camera by accident. You could hear Emily’s mum eating crisps, we were texting her saying, “We can hear you!” It was very much as you’d expect parents to be – kind of getting it wrong and wobbling the laptop.’
The source also said that every 40 minutes – the limit for a free Zoom session – the link ran out. ‘We kept having to restart new sessions. It was hilarious, but actually it was quite a serious screening for the editors. Edward was supposedly texting Meghan throughout.’
So… the Oprah interview aired on Sunday evening in the US, so Enninful and the UK Conde Nast people stayed up that night to watch it live, as it aired in the US? And they did so via Zoom? Surely there would be better options? I heard that a lot of royal reporters were able to access the interview the night of through connections with various TV studios, but they actually had to go into a TV newsroom to watch the satellite link-up. I don’t know if any of this is true, but I’ll believe that Edward and Meghan are still in contact and that he probably texted her during or after he watched the interview.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, CBS.
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