Tatum O'Neal Shades Meghan Markle Over Wimbledon Security: 'So Tacky'

Tatum O'Neal joined the chorus of critics who thought Meghan Markle went overboard with her [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

Tatum O'Neal joined the chorus of critics who thought Meghan Markle went overboard with her security at Wimbledon. The Oscar winner called the Duchess of Sussex having her security stop people from taking photos of her "so tacky." O'Neal said she wanted Markle to be the "next Princess Diana."

"You're now one of the people, you're a royal, you are not an actor," O'Neal, 55, said on Good Morning Britain Tuesday. "To have a bodyguard muscle somebody out I just think is so tacky."

O'Neal said the incident was "so upsetting" to her "because if you think of Princess Diana and you think of how absolutely inclusive she was and she would never turn anyone away."

"I just I had so much hope for Meghan," the Bad News Bears actress said. "I wanted her to be the next Princess Diana and it just seems like it's all about her and it's really upsetting me."

O'Neal said she is always nice to anyone who asks for an autograph or a picture, since it is "something that they remember for the rest of their life and it's one second out of my life."

The Rescue Me star also criticized Markle for making extravagant purchases.

"Well if you get, you know, the [engagement] ring reset and have it bigger and then you do a $400,000 [home] renovation … and you do the private jet to New York for the [baby shower]," O'Neal said. "You know, it's not Diana … this is not Diana, this is something else, I don't know."

When Markle attended friend Serena Williams' July 4 match at Wimbledon, one of Markle's security guards told British media consultant Sally Jones not to take photos of the duchess, Jones told TMZ. "Would you not take photographs of the Duchess? She's here in a private capacity," the security guard told Jones.

Jones said she was surprised, since she was not even aware that Markle was there. She said she was just trying to take a photo of Williams and never took a single photo of Markle. Jones called the move "childish," adding that Markle and Prince Harry see themselves "more as A-list celebrities rather than royals carrying out their duties."

While Jones and other spectators were told to stop taking photos of Markle, security did not stop a little boy from shaking her hand and asking for an autograph. Plus, there were professional photographers taking photos of Markle anyway.

Markle and Harry married in May 2018 and welcomed their first son, Archie, on May 6. The couple have kept Archie out of the public eye, although he was seen at a charity polo match on July 10.

Photo credit: Getty Images

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