Weeks after a scathing Vanity Fair report not only described the Duchess of Sussex as “cold and withholding” to her staffers, but dubbed her and Prince Harry as the “local villains” of their ritzy Montecito neighborhood, actress Abigail Spencer, who has been close friends with Markle since their reign on “Suits” in 2011, said that the negative press can sometimes be difficult to read for those closest to the mom of two.

“It’s very painful as a friend,” she told Page Six at an American Heart Association event in New York City on Thursday. “But she is the most glorious human being on the planet, and so we just have to get behind her and support her.”

Abigail Spencer has often voiced her support for best friend, Meghan Markle.  (Getty Images)

Markle is no stranger to negative press.

Last month, the Duchess caught heat for postponing her new Netflix series, “With Love, Meghan,” amid the LA wildfires.

“It would have been wrong to launch her new show while the wildfires continue to rage through L.A.,” royal photographer Helena Chard recently told Fox News Digital. “I have to say it’s a first, her giving some thought to the release date of her series. She usually releases her work at the most inappropriate time, to the dismay and wrath of the general public.”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been labeled as the “local villains” of their Montecito neighborhood.  (Chris Jackson)

“The public have understandably constantly berated her for being tone-deaf. She is hoping the public see her in a new light as a caring, helpful and kind person, thus changing their current perception of her.”

Spencer said Markle’s new show will highlight the person she actually is.

“What I love about it is, you know, Meghan is one of my best friends, and I feel like the whole world is going to see, like, an authentic, very cool, very lovely insight into who she actually is as a person,” she teased. “You’re also going to learn a lot! I’ve learned a lot from her myself.”

Spencer and Markle starred alongside one another in “Suits.”

This isn’t the first time Spencer has voiced her support for Markle.

In 2021, the actress penned a lengthy description of Markle, two days after Buckingham Palace confirmed in a statement that it was launching a probe into accusations that Prince Harry’s wife had bullied a staff member.

“She’s modeled nothing but generous professionalism on sets and an even more generous friendship in private. And on that night, she took my friends as her own. I’ve learned so much from Meg. The power of a handwritten note. The loveliness of surprise flowers. That she has a perpetual Rolodex in her brain of recommendations for the heart, soul, & body,” Spencer wrote.

Markle’s new show, “With Love, Meghan,” is set to premiere on March 4.  (Kola Sulaimon)

The “Rectify” actress went on to share her memories of Markle supporting her through good times and bad, and specifically recalled a time she “physically held me in my darkest hours after my dad died.”

“After a gut-wrenching break up she brought me into her home & nursed me back to health. Soup & salad waiting in the kitchen, just, if I needed it. She’s taken my son in as her own. I can’t tell you the value of having another working mother I can lean on when with the pressures of visibility & child-rearing woes become overwhelming,” Spencer continued.

She referred to Markle as a “safe harbor” and “someone I can fall apart in front of.”