The former Real Housewives of New York City star Bethenny Frankel addressed the one issue which she claimed is having an impact on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry which could be difficult to resolve. The outspoken entreprenuer believes the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are having a potential "identity crisis".

The reality TV star, 54, said they have juggled too many avenues that it does not always resonate with the public - from their philanthropy work to the controversy surrounding Prince Harry winning the Pat Tillman aviation award, to being open about their treatment during their time in the Royal Family which resulted in a Netflix documentary and Harry's memoir Spare which "didn't land" for audiences.

"I think I said it in a TikTok video but the issue Harry and Meghan are having is an identity crisis because Harry and Meghan don't know in a post-royal world who they are supposed to be to everybody and they keep listening to the audience to try and decide who they are," Bethenny explained on her Just B podcast in February.

She continued: "I think it's a mistake because it has to be who you intrinsically are. The problem is they cherry pick their identity in a sense that now they're philanthropists, they did the whole podium tour when they were doing their Netflix shows and the all of the books. And that didn't land. People didn't like them going around and accepting awards at podiums.

Then what happened during the California fires they showed up somewhere to do charity work but it had the energy of showing up as royals. Like it was part of a royal duty. It had the energy of Princess Diana showing up but they're no longer royals."

The Duke of Sussex was honored with the Pat Tillman Award For Service at the ESPYs last year for his commitment to supporting veterans through the Invictus Games. Tillman was a former NFL player for the Arizona Cardinals who joined the US Army but was killed in Afghanistan in 2004 as a result of friendly fire at just 27 years old.

After it was announced that the Duke of Sussex would be 2024's Pat Tillman Award recipient, he received some backlash from people who questioned the choice—including Tillman's mother.

Earlier this year, Meghan and Harry supported victims of the California fires as they handed out food supplies to evacueees.

However, their show of solidarity with California residents was met with some backlash from critics, who dubbed them "disaster tourists" claiming their visit to an evacuation centre was a publicity stunt.

Bethenny went on: "I think the problem people have with the Meghan and Harry fame and its identity is that they haven't had any sort of trajectory."

She touched on the public knowing Meghan as an actress on Suits who was suddenly catapluted into the royal limelight - but then abruptly left.

The former Housewives star went on to suggest the Sussexes should have taken some time out of the spotlight and re-emerged "with something new", before adding they had been "ill-advised" as PR teams are working from the template of an old era which does not particularly work in 2025.

While Bethenny admitted she would "love to advise" the Sussexes she claimed Meghan's newfound royal fame as well as Harry did not highlight the "blood, sweat and tears" traditional celebrities tend to portray to make them more relatable to the public - and suggested the Duchess of Sussex "pivoted" her brand with As Ever, and her Netflix series With Love, Meghan to show a more down-to-earth side of her public image.

The As Ever line — which also includes flower sprinkles, a boxed crepe mix and honey — launched on April 2 and sold out in under an hour which followed the launch of her latest Netflix series.