George Clooney says Meghan Markle is being ‘pursued and vilified’ like Princess Diana

"It's history repeating itself."

George Clooney has spoken out against the way Meghan Markle has been treated since she joined the royal family last year - comparing her to Princess Diana. The 57-year-old was speaking to Australia's Who magazine to promote his upcoming series, Catch-22.  After addressing the reports he'll be the godfather to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's little boy or girl (a firm 'no'), he said it was "frustrating" to watch the way Meghan had been treated. "They’re just chasing Meghan Markle everywhere, she’s been pursued and vilified," he said. Referencing Princess Diana's fatal car crash in 1997, during which she was being chased by paparazzi, Clooney added:

"She’s a woman who is seven months pregnant and she has been pursued and vilified and chased in the same way that Diana was and it's history repeating itself. "We’ve seen how that ends."

  The actor's comments come after a number of Meghan's friends  anonymously revealed what she was really like. After a number of rumours of a feud between her and Kate Middleton, as well as reports she had been given the nickname 'Duchess Difficult', five of her closet friends decided to "speak the truth" about her. In an interview with PEOPLE, they said they wanted to "speak the truth" about the former Suits actress who officially became a member of the royal family last May. One of the women interviewed, a former co-star and a friend of Meghan's for many years, said that she worries about the effect the negative rumours are having.

"We worry about what this is doing to her and the baby. It’s wrong to put anyone under this level of emotional trauma, let alone when they’re pregnant".

According to the close-knit group, the rumours about Meghan and Kate are untrue and the so-called feud "never happened".