There’s no doubt about it: both Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have always aspired to have friends in high places. A brief glance at their 2018 wedding guest list – which included Oprah Winfrey, David and Victoria Beckham, and George and Amal Clooney – would support that notion. Add to that the fact that, once they’d relocated to California in 2020, they made it their mission to hobnob with LA’s biggest movers and shakers, and it’s no surprise that the pair now carry the rep of two people who see the value in a VIP friendship.
But, according to sources, there’s one celebrity that, as far as Meghan is concerned, is strictly off-limits – and that’s Jennifer Lopez. It’s certainly an about-turn in attitude for the duchess, who placed J.Lo firmly on her most wanted list when she and Harry first moved to the US. But now, Jen’s single, and everything’s changed.
After all, Harry’s been open about his boyhood crush on the superstar, and is still known to turn redder than his hairdo in her company. Obviously, there’s no suggestion that Meghan would ever expect anything untoward nor romantic to happen between them. But with so much scrutiny and headline grabbing stories surrounding Jen’s tumultuous love life, the last thing Meghan wants is to be dragged into her orbit. So, she’s not taking any chances – especially when she can’t see what they would possibly gain from a Lopez-Sussex alliance.
'The irony is that Jen could be a huge help for Meghan,' says an insider close to the duchess, who seemed to be enlisting all the celeb endorsement she could get earlier this year, after sending out a range of homemade jams under her new lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, to her most famous and public-facing friends. 'She’s got the contacts and the star power to really boost her brand. Teaming up with her could bring Meghan the legitimacy in Hollywood that she’s craving. It’s very short sighted.'
Meghan’s frosty flip-flop towards Jen is all the more surprising, considering that she was one of the first people they reached out to when they first set their sights on Hollywood. Indeed, no sooner had they arrived in California than they were spotted enjoying a double date with Jen and her then fiancé, Alex Rodriguez. But a lot can happen in four years – especially when it comes to Jen’s high-octane love life. As we all know, she soon split from Alex, rekindled her long-lost romance with Ben Affleck and, for a short time, seemed to be living the Hollywood fairytale – marrying him in 2022, 18 years after they ended their first engagement. But then, the fairytale crashed and burned, and Ben and Jen announced their impending divorce in August, with the latter recently saying in an interview that the whole experience has been 'f**king hard'.
Since then, we’re told, Harry’s innocently suggested reaching out to Jen – but Meghan’s having none of it. It was fine spending time with one of the most desirable women in the world when she was one half of a power couple. With Alex, she made sense as a worthy alliance – and the same would have been said before things turned toxic between her and Ben, too. But teaming up with Jen now, when she’s firmly back in her sexy single era, simply doesn’t strike Meghan as the right move to make – not least because she knows how people like to gossip. With insiders already reporting that Harry used to have a crush on Jen, she’s apparently well aware that people will take an inch and run a mile with the story – and that’s before they even start sizing her up and comparing her to the Love Don’t Cost A Thing singer.
As our source explains, Meghan simply sees it as an inopportune time to start reaching out to Jen, at a time when she and Harry should really be strengthening their bonds with the world’s biggest power couples. Having lost touch with the likes of the Clooneys and the Beckhams, she’s now got her sights on the Obamas and other VIP pairings. A single Jen, sadly, doesn’t fit the bill.
'Harry is oblivious and keeps bringing up Jen as someone they should really reconnect with and make one of their A-list Hollywood allies,' our source explains. 'He doesn’t understand why that relationship has fallen by the wayside, as she’s such a powerful force and could really help open up a lot of doors. Things seemed to go well when they all had dinner four years ago, and Jen even reached out afterwards, but Meghan doesn’t seem the least bit interested.'
Let’s not forget, Meghan’s concerns come at a time when the couple’s relationship is under the microscope more than ever. While, in the past, they’ve always been a united force, coming as a package deal in both their personal and professional lives, they’ve since taken a different tack in the public eye and started to branch out alone.
Harry, for his part, has been making several trips without Meghan over the past few months, visiting the UK, New York, Lesotho and South Africa, and taking on more solo public engagements. Meghan, meanwhile, has reportedly been quietly trying to salvage her lifestyle brand (whose official launch has apparently been delayed since her Netflix cookery show was waylaid by copyright issues), and has also been stepping out alone closer to home – most recently attending the LA Children’s Hospital gala.
There’s been no talk that their marriage is on the rocks, but it’s clear the terms of their partnership have changed – at least in the public eye. With so much change in the air, it’s no surprise that Meghan, who shares son Archie, five, and daughter Lilibet, three, with Harry, is feeling slightly more vulnerable when it comes to which hot, single, female celebrities they let into their inner circle.
What’s more, as heat has previously told you, Meghan’s already wondering how and where she fits into Harry’s life when it comes to his recent attempts to repair his broken ties with the palace. While he is keen to forge some semblance of a relationship moving forwards with both King Charles and the Prince and Princess of Wales, and even spend Christmas in the UK, it’s no secret that Meghan harbours no desire to ever return to these isles. Clearly, she would never put a ban on him reconnecting with his family, but there are certain things she can influence: and one of them is whom Harry mixes with in LA. Sadly, that means putting the kibosh on a J.Lo friendship. For now, at least, Jenny from the Block is on the chopping block.
