Six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald has been a huge fan of the Duchess of Sussex for many years. Audra has name-checked Meghan in interviews, and in 2023, Audra told Vanity Fair that Meghan is the person she most admires in the world, saying: “I don’t know how she continues to walk through this world with the grace, strength, and purpose that she does given the unbearable amount of vitriol and hate she has been subjected to, but she does. I wish she didn’t have to.” Thursday evening, Meghan was in New York to see the acclaimed Broadway revival of Gypsy, the musical loosely based on the life of Gypsy Rose Lee. Audra plays Mama Rose, the mother, a fantastic role for an actress with a booming voice.
Suffice to say, Meghan loved the musical and she loved meeting Audra. Meghan went backstage and met the whole cast, and the kids were especially excited to meet a real princess. There’s also a great photo of Meghan meeting a cute little terrier, and her joy at holding that little dog tells me that poor Pula and Mia are probably getting a new sibling at some point. Meghan wrote on her IG: “If you get a chance to see @gypsybway, you absolutely must. Congratulations to the tremendously talented cast and crew for creating magic on that stage. And meeting @audramcdonald for the first time last night….🥹 Her performance will leave you absolutely speechless. Full body chills. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house, and if the theater didn’t have to close for the night, the standing ovation would still be happening.” People Mag had more about Meghan’s night out:
The Duchess of Sussex, 43, was spotted in Manhattan on April 10, as first reported by Page Six. The outlet reported that she dined at Polo Bar before heading to the Majestic Theatre to take in Gypsy. After the show, Meghan and her group of friends — including Nate Berkus, Jeremiah Brent, Tracy and Brian Robbins and George Cheeks— went backstage to meet the cast.
“Meghan was totally happy to come backstage and very generous with her time,” a source on the scene tells PEOPLE. “She made her way around the room, greeted everyone and was just very smiley and nice.”
The revival stars six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald, the first Black actress to play the role of Mama Rose on Broadway. Meghan and McDonald hugged and posed together for a photo, with McDonald still in costume.
“She kept telling them how much she loved the production and was gushing specifically to Audra about her performance,” the source adds. “The company were all so happy to have her there and appreciative of her support.”
Nate Berkus! And Tracy Robbins! I feel like this was probably Tracy’s suggestion, like she was the one saying “We should fly to New York to see this revival!” I’m so glad that Meghan and Audra finally got to meet in person and you can tell from the photos that Audra was so moved to see Meghan there. I’m also glad that Meghan felt like security could be tight and controlled enough where she could move around New York without it devolving into a really dangerous situation. Speaking of, Page Six’s sources threw a tantrum about Meghan’s security.
How many security vehicles does it take to escort one duchess? Meghan Markle beefed up her safety measures for a recent night out in the Big Apple. Photos exclusively obtained by Page Six show the Duchess of Sussex, 43, being driven around New York City on Thursday evening with a grandiose four-car motorcade, including three SUVs and an unmarked police vehicle. We’re told Markle hired former Secret Service agents as part of her private security detail — which followed her to dinner and a Broadway show — and that the unmarked vehicle belonged to the New York Police Department and had two intel detectives inside of it.
A paparazzi source tells Page Six that the duchess’s security measures are “absolutely abnormal, totally over-the-top and excessive…Taylor [Swift] usually has two cars — her car that she’s in and a security car with her team,” the insider says, “and if she’s going somewhere, she has a separate car on-site with her team already there, but they don’t travel together.”
The pap source notes that other A-listers like Kim Kardashian, Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Rihanna all travel with one car unless they are with family, then they allot for two, but “no one gets police escorts.”
“Meghan is out of control and over-the-top, and it’s ridiculous if the city is paying for this,” the source opines. “And if NYPD was not on duty, then they shouldn’t be allowed to run lights. Somebody’s got to be paying for it.”
“We’re told Markle hired former Secret Service agents as part of her private security detail” – Meghan and Harry have had former Secret Service agents on their security detail for years. They have really high-level private security, staffed with people who know what they’re doing. And WTF does it matter if she had a four-car motorcade? The NYPD obviously feels like they need to ensure that Meghan and Harry have hardcore security in the city, given what happened in 2023. Plus, it sounds like Meghan was moving in a larger group plus security, thus they needed three cars plus an NYPD car. Page Six’s insider sounds absolutely deranged and dangerous.
Photos courtesy of Meghan’s IG and Audra’s IG.
The Murdochs really want something bad to happen to her, don’t they. This is dark, dark stuff.
Yes they do! It’s all their hate articles that they put out there to hype up the derangers and haters that she needs this kind of protection. I think they get great joy in seeing what she has to do to be protected and it’s all because of them!
The Murdochs want to end democracy and establish a global oligarchy in which the rest of us exist only to serve, so yeah the stuff about Meghan is awful, but they are the architects of true evil.
I’m glad Audra and Meghan met each other in person. They are two lovely ladies! I love Meghans houndstooth skirt!
I’m having fashion flashbacks here! Princess Diana had a suit in a similar giant houndstooth pattern, with a red and white jacket and a black and white skirt. I remember thinking, at the time: “Now, THAT’S what a princess dresses like!” Lol. Nice to see Meghan’s version!
https://www.instagram.com/pechuga_vintage/p/CWuGYbipfTs/?img_index=1
Obviously from the security they have been receiving since the car chase and scare that happened in NYC the people who make the threat assessments have concluded that this level of security is warranted.. we don’t know a fraction of what threats are being made against her or her family but we do know what that family did to Princess Diana. Truthfully I’m surprised she isn’t wrapped in Kevlar bubble wrap by her husband daily and traveling with 20 cars and a small army of security.
I think what happened in NYC really scared the Sussexes. Things escalated so quickly. Too many reminders of Paris and Diana. The tabloids like to portray them as drama queens but Harry has been upfront about not bringing his family to Britain until he’s satisfied with security. That’s not him being dramatic that’s his reality
That hug!
It was so moving to see Audra and Meghan.
The way the kids interacted with Meghan. And the little doggie. It’s not like kids and animals aren’t a good judge of character.
Too bad though for BM and their adjacents that their trusted “insider sources” and those “close to” absolutely had no idea about Meghan going to see Gypsy — same way they had no idea about Harry going to Ukraine. Seeing their lies exposed this way…
“The pap source notes that other A-listers like Kim Kardashian, Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Rihanna all travel with one car unless they are with family, then they allot for two, but “no one gets police escorts.”
Yeah how many of these people have credible death threats against them? How many of these celebrities have a deranged British press who regularly harass her and do everything to make her feel unsafe. How many of these celebrities had paparazzi literally violate traffic laws driving on sidewalks to get a picture? How many of them got boxed in a taxi and forced to sit there while these vile people too pictures? If they are mad they need to blame themselves for creating this environment.
Their security level got updated due to what happened last time. They know that, they reported on it. They are playing stupid like always.
Absolutely right with everything you said except, I’m not sure they’re playing.
All of this. Especially given that NYC is pretty well known to be a place celebs can walk around without being harassed. So nothing about what happened to the Sussexes was normal.
Bluesky, literally all of those other famous stars get constant threats. What are you talking about.
They are mad that they couldn’t chase her like they did the last time. New York isn’t UK, if something happens to them in NYC, it is gonna scare all kinds of important people visiting there. They got a reputation to protect.
Audra McDonald’s words were really moving. I am glad reading from people like her when most of the media are still obsessed with humiliating her. So nice they had an opportunity to meet and Meghan went to watch her performance live. I am sure she missed doing things like that with her friends.
Um, I’m sure Audra was happy to meet Meghan after admiring her but I’m equally sure that Meghan both as an actress and a fan of theatre was probably happy to meet one of the greatest, most spectacular stage actresses ever,
I’m jealous she got to see this revival. I wanted to go but as a Canadian, I’m avoiding spending money in the US.
I love your post and I’m sure Duchess Meghan felt really honored to meet this GOAT that is the one and only Audra McDonals. As a fellow Canadian, I feel you. Please continue boycotting the US, we all are collectively showing this fukcer and his administration AND the GOP that we are not playing. They F’ed A and will FO very soon enough.
I’m Canadian too and am not going to set foot in the US until this current administration is gone, hopefully forever. The Canadian gov’t is actually advising people traveling to the US to take burner phones to avoid having their regular phones taken and examined for “terrorist threats” against Drumph. No country is worth visiting if there is even a hint of a threat of incarceration just because you sent someone a text or email expressing anger at what’s going on there or your browser history shows you’re a big fan of MeidasTouch and Robert Reich.
NYPD looked bad over the pap chase in May 2023. One Police Plaza (NYPD HQ) does not want anything happen to the Sussexes on their watch. Meghan is still a princess of the United Kingdom by marriage, wife of the 5th in line to British throne and mother of the 6th and 7th in line.
All their named examples have received police escorts at times. I couldn’t find examples in NYC, but they have elsewhere. And Jay-Z and Beyonce supposedly hired around 500 bodyguards while on tour with Blue Ivy. Did they all travel in 2 cars? Must have resembled a clown parade. It’s not a bad commentary on the celebs; it’s a sad commentary on humanity and paparazzi.
Sounds to me after reading this Page Six nonsense, they were angry they could not get close enough to Meghan to cause her any angst.
They seemed to know the number of security people and vehicles so their paps have been stalking her.
Hope Harry has a separate watch list for these paps.
Hallelujah, praise the Lord if Page Six couldn’t get close enough to Meghan to cause her grief. P6 is ridiculous – no comment on # of big SUVs idling outside of stage doors throughout the district? 🙄
Well based on this report from People, there were at least six people in the group so at least two cars would make sense plus a police escort. Funny how they make it sound like Meghan herself needed four cars. But wouldn’t “private security” mean Meghan (or someone else) was paying for it and not the public? And all big cities like NYC will have a VIP detail so its not like this is out of the norm to have one car assigned to someone like Meghan. Given what happened before in New York, I don’t blame them for keeping things tight one bit.
Anyway, love Meghan’s outfit! And Page Six is secretly thrilled to have pictures and they know it. Look at them acting like they aren’t happy for the clicks.
H&M have 24/7 security they pay for. The public doesn’t pay for their private security. Because of their security level, the police escorts them while they are on the move in NYC, which prevents the cases like what happened last time with paps chase. I think, in LA, there are more restrictions about what paps are allowed to do, that is why we didn’t hear anything about them being chased or getting police escort.
If the paparazzi didn’t act crazy every time she left her house she wouldn’t need so much security. They’re just pissed off that they didn’t get to chase around NY. Anyway, it’s lovely that she got to meet Audra. You can tell that it was an emotional moment for both of them.
What a fun night getting to see Gypsy onstage with THE Audra McDonald. The pictures were so sweet. And boohoo about her security. After what happened that one time, I like to see her getting all the security needed.
The fact a police care was there shows that the police believe there is danger even if the press claim that there isn’t.
So lovely that Meghan went backstage & met the cast & especially Audra! Audra has been a vocal supporter of Meghan so that hug was everything. Meghan the theatre kid fan girling about Audra on her IG was so cute. Loved everything about this outing including the young actress who looked so happy to meet Meghan & said on her IG that she sees so much of herself in Meghan
The tabloid press always make a big fuss over Harry and Meghan whenever they are in a situation where they are well guarded & it’s so sinister.
Yeah, I have lists. People who have supported Meghan and people who didn’t support Kamala Harris, which usually overlaps with people who don’t support Meghan. Viola Davis has also supported Meghan and I want to see that crossover at some point bc I love Viola. Also, Tamron Hall is a big supporter and I know we talk about the talk shows we want to see Meghan on and I want to see her on Tamron’s, lol.
No. No to tamron’s show.
Bots and derangers put in dm comments they want Meghan to go away. She should have security.
That in itself tells us that the derangers and Fail are the problem because it’s on them to avoid her. Meghan isn’t working at the Fail writing the daily articles about herself. The Fail decides what and who they are going to report on and everyday it’s about Meghan, whether she’s seen or not. The derangers are the ones who choose what articles to read or what people they follow on social media. Meghan doesn’t have them tied up in some basement somewhere making them read or watch anything pertaining to her. They live their lonely lives stalking Meghan from a basement by no one else’s choice but their own.
Meghan telling Audra, thank you, thank you, and they both looked so overwhelmed to be meeting for the first time.
That dog couldn’t wait to leap into her arms.
If I were a New Yorker, I would be happy they had a police escort to stop the paparazzi from driving dangerously in a city with so many pedestrians.
Given their actions last time, the police are for public protection as well as Meghan’s.
I see they’ve doubled down on “Markle”, even though she’s explained that their legal surname is Sussex. The unhinged hate for this woman is deeply disturbing. All because a biracial American married a white prince. Damn.
Whoopi Goldberg, who is friends with Chuck, has consistently badmouthed Meghan, even indirectly, and ABC is a media group protecting the royals and attacking Harry & Meghan whenever possible. But Whoopi probably likes Audra, so that’s interesting to watch.
Whoop is on one of my lists but is one where there is no overlap. Harris supporter but I’ll never forget what she said in the aftermath of them being relentlessly pursued by paps in nyc. I’ve driven on the west side highway many times at night and you can get up to high speeds so fuck that. Whoopi needs to keep Diana, Harry and Meghan’s names out of her mouth after she went off like that. Callous and dangerous.
I disagree with your double down on Markle comment. The UK papers still routinely refer to Kate as Kate Middleton. There are lots of nasty
going down, I just don’t think this is one.
Also, were it me, I’d rather have former Mossad than former Secret Service.
On another note, Meghan seems to be aging backwards! Black don’t crack!
Keen will lose her natural mind when she sees these untouched photos. No photoshopping required.
All of the photos and videos are a great way to bring in the weekend. I have a continuous smile seeing how happy everyone in the photos and videos are genuinely happy to seeing and interacting with each other. It was a pleasant surprise and I’m happy that Meghan has IG to share special moments like these. I would love to see Gypsie and this makes me want to see it even more.
PageSix is as reliable and trustworthy as the lying and corrupt Fail. There nonexistent sources come from the same polluted air and they lie with every sentence they write. There was no coincidence that the Fail had the unethical and illegally obtained photos from that car chase in 2023 and had to take them down once it was made public how and what was done to get those photos. PS ignoring the fact that it’s them and the Fail (and other trash media) who created such a dangerous and life threatening environment around Harry and Meghan that such precautions have become necessary for them. They refuse to mention the multiple motorbikes, SUVS and cameras that were chasing after Harry, Meghan and Doria after they had already gotten pictures of all of them arriving and leaving the event honoring Meghan in 2023. They already had the photos they needed. Them following them after the fact was completely unnecessary and is what put other peoples lives in danger with them running lights, speeding and driving on sidewalks to get unnecessary photos. It is only a blessing that only cars were damaged that night and no one was physically harmed during that chase in 2023.
It sounds to me like PS is salty that they didn’t know in advance about this outing because four SUVs four a party of at least six friends, their security and a police escort seems reasonable, especially considering the depths of hell PS and other tabloids and paparazzi are willing to go to when reporting on Meghan.
Love, love Audra’s voice. It is one of the most wonderful on earth! Her embrace of Meghan, both vocally and in person, is so heartwarming. A wonderful support of one woman for another.
What a lovely evening for everybody. Years back, I saw Audra at the American Rep in a new version of Porgy and Bess and then I had the good luck to see her again the next year when the play went to Broadway. She’s just so spectacular, there are no words.
Have we seen George Cheeks mentioned before as Meghan’s friend? He’s like the president of CBS or something, isn’t he?
Lucky you for seeing Audra in person. I’ve been debating another expensive (but probably awesome) trip to NYC and after reading Charles McNulty review in LA Times, I might just have to do it 🤑
Love this!!
I wonder what else Meghan got done in New York. The Sussexes don’t usually just do just one thing when they are in town.
Maybe something to do with CBS?
I wondered that too. I’d love it if that was the case. At the same time, it’s also cool if she truly just did a nyc night out with friends and then headed back home. I also wondered if Harry caught a ride back with them. Flew from Ukraine back to nyc and then caught whatever private plane they were on back to Cali.
Imagine interviewing a paparazzi as an expert on how much security someone should have. Like interviewing the fox that can’t break into the guarded hen house.
😄
Meghan looked beautiful and I am so happy she got to meet Audra. A Papp source is supposed to be viewed as trustworthy and credible? Like gtfo. Who cares what these rodents think . If they were not constantly putting her and her family life in danger, then they wouldn’t need all the security they have . F the tabloids.
As far as her security is concerned, what I found most interesting was that there were two “intelligence detectives” from NYPD. I think that tells us everything we need to know, but I’m sure the ‘paparazzi source’ knows better than anyone else. (/s)
I wish I could go to NY and see this stage production. I’m happy that Meghan and her friends got to see it.
I can see the connection through Oprah for Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent. I’m a little surprised because I thought they had moved full-time to Portugal with their kids and Jeremiah’s mum. Given the state of the state in the US, I’d think they wouldn’t spend time either in their NYC home or the one in upstate NY.
Kerry Washington is a co-producer so there’s that connection for M as well
So Paps are a reliable source of information for Page Six. Four vehicles, one an unmarked NYC police vehicle, who were in the other three vehicles? Page Six doesn’t say or they couldn’t find out.
What a great night out and truly some beautiful photos. Page 6 are probably in such a snit about security because they can’t get to her. Also she was with 2 or 3 other couples so they had a few cars between them as well as security. Meghan looked fabulous and the photos with Audra were so emotional.
Both Meghan and Audra look amazing!!
Love all of this for meghan. Friends, quiet moves, lovely evening out, a meet cute with audra, share her warmth with the cast , crew ,doggie. Meghan ocvered her face with her hands briefly when seeing audra, definitely she was having feelings also at her good fortune to meet Audra. I do this too when I can’t believe how fortunate I am to be near someone i admire.
Meghan went last time to spend time with supporters for the launch of WLM, I dont recall stories about hurt feelings about her security and vehicles that time. I wonder if her going out last night was leaked a little and the paps had a chance to scout and wait around for her, hence the freakout stories this time they couldn’t get to her ?
Anywy this is good, no drama about car chases. Just effective security taking care of this woman. NYPD showcased they messed up huuuuuuuge already, by being there this time, Record events with their own cameras. Paps and murdoch acknowledge here they’re a main problem why security is needed. When done as it should be this means nothing but angry frustrated stalker energy / blaming blather by those who were impeded by security from doing their actual job- which is not journalistically writing about meghan or taking harmless photos but to be a chaos agent for harm.
Ooph the power of that black & white photo moves moves me. You felt the mutual love, respect, solidarity, and womanhood in that photo. So Powerful.
As for the tears about security (eyeroll) the article is full of lies because I’ve seen Beyonce’s security transport when she was touring for Renaissance and it was WAY more than one car. But lets pretend Beyonce’s security is just one one car, so what? Security isn’t based off of fame its based off of the threat level and thanks to Murdoch publications like page 6 and other British tabloids engaging in stochastic terrorism the Sussexes have a high threat level.