Deborah James says comment about Meghan Markle ‘stealing her thunder’ was ‘a joke’

The bowel cancer campaigner said she was ‘determined not to die’ over jubilee weekend

(Instagram @bowelbabe/Getty)

Deborah James has clarified that comments she made about Meghan Markle “stealing her thunder” over platinum jubilee weekend was a joke.

The bowel cancer campaigner, who revealed last month that she is currently undergoing at-home hospice care for her stage four bowel cancer, said in an interview on Friday that she was “determined not to die over the Jubilee weekend, I don’t want Meghan stealing my thunder”.

She added: “I haven’t worked so hard to raise cancer awareness and money to help find a cure, only to miss out on another Sun front page when I go.”

James was referring to the fact that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex visited the UK for the platinum jubilee weekend, and she was predicting that their visit would make headlines.

It was the first time Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were pictured together with the royal family since they stepped down as senior members of the firm in 2020.

However, James has now clarified that her comments about Meghan in The Sun were a joke.

In a tweet, she wrote: “Meghan comment is a joke, apparently you can still find a send off fun in your day! The rest is not.

“Is dying the last taboo of them all? I thought poo talk was hard, but navigating end of life care makes checking your poo easy by comparison of DNR chat and respect documents!”

Her clarification came after her initial comments saw backlash from Sussex fans across social media, with one person saying the comments were “uncalled for” and another saying they had “lost some respect” for the campaigner.

James was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016, and has since been campaigning to raise awareness for the disease.

Since she revealed she was on end of life care, her BowelBabe fun has raised over £6.6 million for Cancer Research UK.