"Women, in particular, are constantly pitted against and compared with each other."
Sarah “Fergie” Ferguson is tired of the online hatred.
Penning a letter in Hello! magazine as a part of the publication’s #HelloToKindness campaign, the Duchess of York speaks out about the Internet abuse that reminds her of the scrutiny she and the late Princess Diana faced in the media when they were sisters-in-law.
"Women, in particular, are constantly pitted against and compared with each other in a way that reminds me of how people tried to portray Diana and me all the time as rivals, which is something neither of us ever really felt,” she writes of Diana, who was married to Prince Charles when she was married to his brother, Prince Andrew.
Fergie goes on to speak out against the online hatred that many people, including sisters-in-law Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle, face today.
"I believe that it’s time to take a stand. This isn’t about freedom of speech,” she continues. “It’s not acceptable to pit women against one another all the time."
Fergie has been candid in the past about her friendship with Diana, telling Harper’s Bazaar in 2007, “Diana was one of the quickest wits I knew; nobody made me laugh like her. But because we were like siblings — actually, we were fourth cousins and our mothers, who went to school together, were also best friends — we rowed.”
The Duchess also spoke about Diana on Good Morning Britain last November, saying the late Princess of Wales would have been thrilled by her sons’ wives.
"She’d really just be so proud,” she said at the time. "Even before they got married, Diana would have ben literally going, ‘I can’t believe these boys have done so well.’ They are such a credit to her.”
The #HelloToKindness campaign originally began after Hello! noticed hateful sexist and racist comments aimed at the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Sussex following rumors that there was a rivalry between the two royals.
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