Not everyone was happy about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Valentine's Day announcement that they are expecting a sibling for son Archie Harrison.
British TV personality, former America's Got Talent judge and longtime tabloid journalist Piers Morgan, an outspoken critic of the couple and their 2020 royal exit, offered his opinion on the couple's news. They revealed Meghan's pregnancy on Sunday, Feb. 14, in a press statement that included a black and white photo of the Duchess of Sussex sporting a baby bump and laying on the Duke of Sussex's leg as they both relax on the grass in a garden.
Piers posted the pic on his Twitter page, writing, "BREAKING: Harry & Meghan have announced they're pregnant and released this cheesy photo of themselves to ensure the media gives the story about their private life more prominence - in their latest courageous effort to stop the same media focusing on their private life."
Exactly 10 minutes later, British actress and The Good Place alum Jameela Jamill tweeted, "The last time Meghan was pregnant, she was being dragged through the mud by the tabloid media in the UK. To knowingly do that to someone in such a physically vulnerable state as pregnancy... is abhorrent. May they come back and do better this second time around and let her be..."
The Duchess of Sussex has come under much scrutiny by the tabloid press in the United Kingdom since she and Harry began their relationship in 2016, and especially after they announced her pregnancy with Archie, who is now 21 months old. In a 2019 documentary, she got tearful while talking about the criticism she faced as a new mother.
Meghan and Harry moved away from his native England and moved to Canada and later, Southern California, last year following their exit as senior members of the royal family—a move Piers had blamed on the duchess, who he accused of "breaking up our royal family after fleecing the public purse."
Last week, Meghan scored a legal victory against a major tabloid news publisher. The U.K.'s High Court granted her a "summary judgment" in her claim for misuse of private information against the company, Associated Newspapers, for publishing excerpts from a letter that she wrote her estranged father in its Mail on Sunday newspaper and MailOnline website.
Piers, who was uninvolved in the legal case, used to work as a writer and editor for many U.K. tabloids and still often pens opinion columns for the MailOnline. Last December, he wrote one titled, "And the Duke and Duchess of Sussex 'Wokie' award for most hypocritical, virtue-signalling public figures of the year goes to... Meghan and Harry!"
Jameela has expressed frustration with the tabloid press before. Last fall, she shut down rumors claiming she was "best friends" with Meghan and that she and her boyfriend were quarantining with the duke and duchess at the couple's home during the coronavirus pandemic. Jameela said she met Meghan "once ever."