Meg Bellamy dealt with major bullying online as a cast member on “The Crown.”
The 21-year-old actress said in a new interview that social media trolls made fun of her weight when she played Kate Middleton in her early 20s in the Netflix show’s sixth and final season.
“I’d had this long day of press, it had gone well, then I went on my phone and there was all this negative stuff about my body online,’ ” Bellamy recalled to “Mail On Sunday’s You” magazine on June 23.
“The comments were mostly: ‘You’re too fat to play Kate,’ ” she added.
Bellamy continued: “That was a glimpse into being a woman in this industry. I thought, ‘OK, that’s a sign to distance yourself, because it doesn’t mean anything. You can’t listen to that sort of stuff.’ “
She also said that the cruel online comments came from “men called Gary who are holding a fish in their profile picture.”
“Besides, I’ve had so many amazing things happen to me,” she added. “They’re the losers for saying that. I’m living my best life over here!”
Bellamy joined the cast of “The Crown” Season 6, which in part explored Middleton’s early relationship with Prince William when they were classmates at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.
Ed McVey portrays William, 42.
Bellamy said that to prepare for the show, she watched hours of footage of Middleton, 42, and studied her.
“I spent so much time ‘with’ her,’ ” said Bellamy. “You get this weird parasocial connection. She’s so gracious and wonderful and self-assured. I will always be fond of Kate.”
“I’ve tried to put the character behind me. But of course, I so feel for her and for the family,’ ” Bellamy added, referring to Middleton’s cancer diagnosis.
The Prince and Princess of Wales’ love story took center stage in the final season of “The Crown,” but royal biographer Robert Hardman claimed in his book “The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy,” which came out in January, that the couple had no plans to watch the show.
“The Prince . . . rolls his eyes when people say that ‘it’s just drama,’ ” a source told Hardman for the book. “Yet he will not give it any greater publicity by complaining. He doesn’t like the idea of being seen as a complainer all the time.”
Furthermore, a source close to William revealed last year that he was “sickened” over the show including his late mother Princess Diana’s ghost in Season 6.
“It’s incredibly hurtful to have his mother exploited over and over again in this tawdry fashion by Netflix. He won’t watch it,” the source told the Daily Beast.
William and Middleton have never publicly commented on “The Crown.”
His estranged brother, Prince Harry, however, told Stephen Colbert last year that he’s watched the drama series.
Harry, 39, said that he also “fact-checked” the show. “Which, by the way, is another reason why it’s so important that history has it right,” he added.