In the weeks since influencer Sasha Exeter came forward about a negative interaction with Jessica Mulroney, the Canadian stylist and Meghan Markle friend has faced a reckoning that cuts to the core of her public persona. First her CTV show, I Do, Redo, was canceled, and she lost her contributor role on Good Morning America. Then Meghan reportedly ended her friendship with Jessica over the situation. While losing the gigs meant Mulroney took a hit to her bottom line, losing the confidence of Meghan could mean she has to start from square one if she wants to remain in the public eye. So according to a Monday report in Us Weekly, Mulroney is doing what most public figures do when they’re in this position: turning to a team of experts for help with reputation management.
“Jessica has hired a big crisis P.R. team to deal with all of this backlash against her,” a source told the magazine. “She’s been talking to lawyers, image experts, and crisis P.R. teams. She has been having a lot of them over to her house to brainstorm and find a way to put this behind her.” The magazine added that her husband, Ben Mulroney, the son of former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney, has enlisted former government staffers and political strategists to help as well.
If the Mulroneys have brought in a new team, it’s a tacit admission that Jessica’s initial instincts were necessarily not to be trusted. In the weeks since the controversy started, her strategy has changed drastically. Immediately after Exeter’s first video, Jessica posted a public comment that said she was sorry. The next day Exeter shared a direct message wherein Jessica threatened to sue, despite having apologized publicly.
The same day her show was canceled, Jessica responded with an Instagram apology that drew some criticism. “I did not intend in any way to jeopardize her livelihood,” she said. “We had a disagreement and it got out of hand. For that I am sorry.” After the cancellation she took a step away from the spotlight, declining to comment to multiple outlets and even resigning her spot on the board of the Shoebox Project, the charity she helped found.
According to the Daily Mail, Jessica’s initial handling of the aftermath was one of the things that upset Meghan most about the situation. “Meghan is absolutely mortified that she’s been dragged into this complete mess. She said Jessica is in no way a racist, but the way she handled the situation was tone-deaf and heartbreaking,” a friend told the tabloid in the days after Exeter first spoke up. “There was a reason Meghan waited so long to make a statement [about George Floyd]. She wanted to get it right. She said she urged Jessica to do the same thing from the get-go.”
On Monday, Ben stepped down from his position as an anchor for eTalk, a Canadian entertainment show. He mentioned his wife in his on-air comments explaining the move, but did not comment on the situation in detail. “I love my wife. However, it is not my place to speak for her,” he said. “Together we are committed to doing the work to both learn and understand more about anti-Black racism, as well as learn and understand more about our blind spots.” He said he would stay on as a host of his other CTV show, Your Morning, and that he hoped someone from a BIPOC background would replace him on eTalk.