When I read the Duchess of Sussex’s cover profile in Harper’s Bazaar, I found it interesting that she allowed the Bazaar interviewer into the New York brownstone which the Sussexes had borrowed. Long-time Sussex watchers know that in the past three years, whenever Harry and Meghan visit New York, they’re usually staying at someone’s private home rather than a hotel or Airbnb. I wondered if the British press would use the Bazaar profile to dig into who the New York home belonged to, and will you look at that, the Daily Mail uncovered it. According to their sources, the Sussexes stay at Victoria Jackson’s brownstone. Meaning, it was Jackson’s house manager who bellowed Meghan’s title into the abyss during the interview.
When you are a friend of Victoria Jackson, there is clearly no shortage of places to stay. She is, after all, the Queen of Cosmetics – and as such has fabulous homes on the Upper East Side in New York, in the heart of Beverly Hills and between the mountains and the Pacific blue in Montecito. And now it can be revealed that the generous septuagenarian make-up tycoon has been loaning them all to her pal, the Duchess of Sussex.
It was Jackson’s imposing New York brownstone where Meghan was ‘announced’ to her Harpers Bazaar interviewer by a house manager. A well-connected source says that Meghan and Prince Harry habitually stay there when they have business in the city. Indeed, they were staying there in 2023 when there was a disputed car chase with paparazzi. Exquisitely appointed, the property boasts the interior glass elevator and kitchen with oak worktops noted in the magazine’s cover interview.
‘They have been staying there for years, they always stay at Jackson’s houses,’ says the source.
I’m told that Jackson’s home in Los Angeles is also used as a base by the couple. They are understood to have stayed there two weeks ago before – controversially – going to Kris Jenner’s 70th birthday party. That whopping 14-bedroom Beverly Hills mansion, originally built for silent film star Buster Keaton in 1926, has a 50 ft living room, 60 ft pool, and staff quarters. Actor Cary Grant previously lived there and its olive-lined driveway is 500 ft long – such a distance that guests are shuttled to the front door on a golf cart.Meghan also uses Jackson’s other mansion in Montecito. Indeed, she had her 41st birthday party there in 2021 rather than at her own home and, the following year, she met an interviewer from The Cut there. It’s a venue that’s also proved popular with children Archie and Lilibet, who apparently love petting the micropigs Jackson keeps there.
‘Victoria’s houses make their place in Montecito look like a prison or a beach shack,’ I’m told. ‘It suits them for security, the houses are unbelievable, and they don’t have to pay at all, which is also appealing.’
What’s more, the generous Jackson apparently lends the couple her Dassault Falcon private jet for trips. This will save them hundreds of thousands of dollars and allow them to travel with enhanced security.
And earlier this month, Meghan set up her first ever pop-up store, featuring her As Ever produce, in Godmothers, the Montecito bookstore co-owned by Jackson and her literary agent Jennifer Rudolph Walsh. An Instagram Reel on November 6 showed the duchess arranging her fruit spreads and candles in an event space on the first floor.
Clearly, through the patronage of this elegant, super-rich businesswoman, the couple are managing to have a quasi-royal lifestyle without spending a dime. Indeed, Jackson, 70, appears to have become something of a mother figure to both the prince and Meghan. They were introduced to each other by feminist icon Gloria Steinem, who is one of Jackson’s New York neighbours, soon after ‘Megxit’. They quickly became close friends and Prince Harry and Meghan gladly fell into Jackson’s millionaires-only social circle, which also includes Kardashian momager Jenner, who Jackson has been close to for decades. Ditto Oprah Winfrey.
LMAO, the Mail is trying to ragebait their readers, but it makes Victoria Jackson simply sound like a lovely and generous person. The Mail points out that Meghan and Daniel Martin have tagged Jackson’s makeup line and none of it is paid promotion, so it’s just a little thank you from Meghan to her friend. This is why Salt Isle remains so mad as well – Meghan and Harry were never supposed to land on their feet, but they especially weren’t supposed to befriend a loyal and generous clique of millionaires and billionaires who look out for the Sussexes and help them out constantly. The Mail has been trying to convince their readership that “everyone in America hates Harry & Meghan,” so it must kill them to have to add the asterisk. Everyone hates Harry & Meghan* (*except for Victoria Jackson, Oprah, Gayle, Tyler Perry, the head of Paramount, the CEO of Netflix, Kamala Harris, Doug Emhoff, Hillary Clinton, Gloria Steinem, Serena Williams, Kris Jenner AND Beyonce.) Also: I’m consistently in awe of Harry and Meghan’s networking skills, damn.
Photos courtesy of Victoria Jackson’s IG, Netflix and Harper’s Bazaar.
