The husband of Meghan Markle’s former best friend Jessica Mulroney has called a Black influencer a ‘racial grifter’.
Ben Mulroney told a podcast how he and his wife were cancelled in June 2020 after Sasha Exeter accused Jessica of displaying ‘textbook white privilege’.
Meghan reportedly cut off contact with Jessica, her maid of honour at her wedding to Prince Harry eight years ago, after she became embroiled in the online race row.
The clash, which came in the wake of George Floyd’s death, began when Jessica allegedly took offence to a ‘generic call to action’ post Sasha Exeter had shared about the Black Lives Matter movement.
According to Sasha, the pair then argued over the importance of influencers ‘speaking up’. She later claimed Jessica had ‘threatened’ her during the exchange and Ms Mulroney apologised.
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”.’
Jessica was once Meghan’s closest friend, and her twin sons and daughter served as page boys and a bridesmaid when she married Harry at St George’s Chapel, Windsor.
The pair had been close since Meghan filmed Suits in Toronto, with Jessica taking credit for many of Meghan’s stylish outfits.
But TV presenter and fashion stylist Jessica faced a backlash after she was accused of threatening Sasha Exeter in private messages.
Ben Mulroney told a podcast how he and his wife Jessica were cancelled in June 2020 after Sasha Exeter accused Jessica of using ‘textbook white privilege’. She lost her TV job and he quit his in solidarity and he says he had ‘texts and DMs’ that tell the true story
Jessica’s relationship with Meghan Markle also seems to have cooled off in recent years, after the Black Lives Matter row. Pictured with Ben and Meghan in 2016
Shortly after posting the clip about Jessica, Sasha Exeter claimed she had been targeted by trolls who were sending her death threats (pictured)
According to Sasha, Jessica sent the messages after she called on social media influencers to use their platforms to support the Black Lives Matter movement following George Floyd’s death.
Sasha said: ‘I was very vocal about wanting my peers and folks with an online presence to speak out, stand up and use their voice for good to help combat what’s going on with this race war and what’s happening to the Black community.
‘One very prominent Canadian figure who used to be an acquaintance of mine named Jessica Mulroney took offence to a very generic call to action that I shared on my IG Stories.
‘And what happened next was a series of very problematic behaviour and antics that ultimately resulted in her sending me a threat in writing.
‘Listen, I’m by no means calling Jess a racist but what I will say is this: She is very well aware of her wealth, her perceived power and privilege because of the colour of her skin.
‘And that, my friend, gave her the momentary confidence to come for my livelihood in writing. Textbook white privilege, really, in my personal opinion.’
In a comment posted beneath the video, Jessica said she was ‘unequivocally sorry’, writing: ‘As I told you privately, I have lived a very public and personal experience with my closest friend where race was front and centre. It was deeply educational.’
Ben, the son of former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, later stepped down from his role as an anchor on Canadian TV’s eTalk in solidarity with his wife.
Jessica apologised on several occasions but lost her presenting gig on Good Morning America.
However, Ben has now claimed the scandal was ‘made up’.
He argued: ‘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 has been approached for comment.
Ben claimed his work colleagues ‘seemed to accept this lie’ which is why he stepped down from his own TV career.
Reports later claimed that Meghan and Jessica’s friendship ‘crumbled’ over the incident although Ben recently insisted they remain on positive terms. Meghan has never spoken out about it.
In July 2025, it was revealed that Ben and Jessica split up after 16 years of marriage.
It is not known if the couple have divorced, although Ben referred to her as ‘his wife’ throughout last week’s podcast.
The Duchess of Sussex once said that ‘the room stops’ whenever her friend, whom she fondly called Jess, ‘shows up’.
But Meghan reportedly cut off contact with her after she became embroiled in an online race row linked to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Ms Mulroney recently told the Daily Mail she would ‘never’ spill the beans on what happened between them, amid reports she was considering a memoir and had been offered a $1million advance.
Jessica and Meghan were inseparable for several years after meeting in Toronto, where the future duchess was filming Suits.
She helped guard the secret that Meghan was dating a prince and was the first friend the Duchess of Sussex called from the grounds of Kensington Palace after Harry proposed.
Her twin sons, John and Brian, then seven, even had the honour of carrying Meghan’s dress train down the aisle at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, while her daughter Ivy, then two, was a bridesmaid alongside Princess Charlotte at the royal wedding.
But Jessica was cut adrift by her former best friend — and effectively cancelled — after expressing her views on Black Lives Matter.
‘She was upset their friendship ended,’ an insider told the Daily Mail last year.
Jessica Mulroney and Meghan Markle in 2016. They were best friends but are no longer close after an online spat in 2020 related to Black Lives Matter
Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, on stage at the One805 Live Concert held at movie star Kevin Costner’s Santa Barbara estate over the weekend
The online race row left her ‘toxic’ on Toronto’s social scene.
Afterwards, TV work dried up and she stepped down from the charity she founded to support homeless women across Canada, the US and the UK — a decision said to have caused her considerable grief.
Meghan, it is claimed, cut off contact with her around the same time.
‘She [Jessica] was once Meghan’s closest confidante and keeper of her secrets. She knows everything,’ a source said.
Jessica went on to attend Meghan’s wedding to Prince Harry in 2018 after helping keep their dates in Canada and London secret during the summer of 2016.
In her 2022 Netflix documentary, Meghan shared footage of the night Prince Harry proposed in 2017, showing her FaceTiming her friend as she walked through the grounds of Kensington Palace.
Before marrying Prince Harry, the former actress often gushed about Jessica online, with the pair regularly holidaying together.
Despite their close relationship, insiders claimed the Duchess permanently cut ties with Jessica in 2020 after she became embroiled in a feud with influencer Sasha Exeter.
It may have been the final straw for the Duchess. An insider told Page Six that the friendship was already on the rocks because Meghan felt Jessica was trying to ‘make a career out of the friendship’.
Meghan has kept her distance from her former friend ever since. Jessica was also absent from any mention in Harry’s memoir, Spare.
Jessica at Meghan’s wedding in 2018, with her daughter Ivy and the now Princess of Wales and Princess Charlotte
Jessica Mulroney split from her husband after 16 years of marriage (pictured together, with their three children)
Jessica was also not invited to take part in the Duchess’s latest project, With Love, Meghan, while others from her social circle were involved.
Meghan – who has carefully curated her own social media presence since January while launching her As Ever brand and promoting her Netflix series – has not been seen publicly with Jessica for five years.
The pair do not follow each other on social media, either.
Jessica has remained completely silent about Meghan since Megxit.
The breakdown of their friendship appears to be linked to Jessica’s online feud with influencer Sasha Exeter over the Black Lives Matter movement.
The clash, which came in the wake of George Floyd’s death, began when Jessica allegedly took offence to a ‘generic call to action’ post Sasha had shared about the movement.
According to Sasha, the pair then argued over the importance of ‘speaking up’.
Sasha said she felt Jessica had ‘threatened’ her during the dispute, claiming the mother-of-three wrote: ‘I have also spoken to companies and people about the way you have treated me unfairly. You think your voice matters. Well it only matters if you express it with kindness and without shaming people who are simply trying to learn. Good luck.’
In a follow-up video, Sasha, who is also from Toronto, said: ‘What happened next was a series of very problematic behaviour and antics.
‘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.’
Jessica was seen without her wedding ring on her Instagram account and a source then confirmed she and her husband had split
Shortly after posting the video, Sasha claimed she had been targeted by trolls sending her death threats.
Jessica issued further public apologies but was dropped by several television networks, including Good Morning America.
In Canada, her wedding-themed reality show I Do, Redo was pulled from the schedule.
Ben is the eldest son of Brian Mulroney, the former prime minister of Canada. He is a television presenter and radio host.
He also hosted Canadian Idol from 2003 to 2008 and fronted the national morning programme Your Morning.
His first date with Jessica did not take place until years later, when he visited Montreal during a break from Canadian Idol. The pair went for sushi and karaoke, with Ben belting out Frank Sinatra’s New York, New York.
‘I knew about halfway through the date that we would eventually get married,’ Ben said.
They married in 2008 at St Patrick’s Basilica in Montreal before honeymooning in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
In 2018, the couple attended Meghan’s wedding to Prince Harry at St George’s Chapel, Windsor.
But a friend told the Daily Mail last July that the former friends had been estranged ‘for some time’.
