Mel Greig is sitting in a coroner’s court in London, sobbing. She doesn’t need to be there. She could be at home with fiance, Stephen, and her dog, Mia, getting on with her life.
Instead, the 32-year-old Australian radio host is at an inquest into the death of Jacintha Saldhana.
A death she probably still wonders if she, ultimately, caused.
Jacintha Saldhana was the 46-year-old nurse who answered the phone in 2012 when Greig and her co-host Michael Christian made a prank call to the hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was suffering from acute morning sickness. Greig impersonated the Queen, Christian pretended to be Prince Charles, and Saldhana fell for what was intended to be a funny prank call.
When Saldhana took her own life, her suicide note read “Please accept my apologies. I am truly sorry. Thank you for all your support. I hold the Australians Mel Greig and Michael Christian responsible for this act. Please make them pay my mortgage. I am sorry”.
Mel Grieg is not required to be in London for the inquest. In fact, Coronor Fiona Wilcox refused her requests to give evidence.
But I think it’s pretty obvious why she would fly across the world to be at this inquest: She’s there because she cannot move on.
She’s there because a stranger on the other side of the world was found dead next to a note with her name on it.