There has been much unpleasant whinging within the Wright family this week.
The powerful Essex clan, who perhaps long believed their popularity was untouchable, have been left stunned by the brutal backlash that matriarch Carol and her eldest daughter Jess have received for lambasting women who wear thong bikinis on the beach.
Even loyal fans of the family have turned on the pair, while social media trolls have also targeted Natalya, Carol’s youngest daughter and Jess’s little sister, in a manner that can only be described as vicious.
Quite how a casual remark made on the trio’s podcast about a tiny scrap of cloth could have turned into such a career-defining ruckus has left them shaken and unnerved.
And rivals of the family have been in touch with me to joke that, as some celebrate the Wrights’ potential downfall, there are certain to be plenty of requests for Sisqo’s 1999 hit Thong Song in bars all over the county.
But behind closed doors at the £3.5million mansion of Carol’s son Mark Wright and his wife, actress Michelle Keegan, no one is laughing.
Until now, how the glamorous couple have felt about it all has been unclear.
But today, I can reveal that my Essex sources say Michelle, 38, is ‘mortified and embarrassed’ at the saga engulfing her in-laws – especially as she has been partial to a thong bikini herself, sometimes during holidays with the Wrights.
Carol Wright with daughters Natalya and Jess (centre) believed they were untouchable, but have been left stunned at the backlash they’ve had for lambasting women for wearing thong bikini bottoms on the beach
Loyal fans of the family have turned on the pair, while social media trolls have also targeted Natalya, Carol’s youngest daughter and Jess’s little sister, in a manner that can only be described as vicious
Mark, meanwhile, is dumbfounded and furious that his mum and sisters could not just prompt such a huge scandal but allow it to blow out of all proportion.
My source said: ‘Michelle is mortified and wants no part of any of it. She’s completely distancing herself from it all. She will never ever talk about it because it’s her husband’s family, but she is deeply embarrassed by it all. This is not the kind of drama she wants to get caught up in.
‘Mark is fuming and can’t believe they would be so stupid as to not only say those things on their podcast but to let it get through the edit.
‘They have the final say on what goes out and he can’t believe they didn’t foresee that there could be a huge backlash with those comments,’ added the source. ‘They’ve been in this game for long enough to know better. And who actually did edit it?
‘There’s a lot of anger and blame going on. And, of course, Mark has got his wife on one side, who isn’t getting involved and doesn’t want to hear anything about it, and his mum and sister on the other side who are in bits about it all. They don’t know what to do because it is not blowing over. But they have alienated so much of their fan base.’
It was last week on their popular podcast Wright At Home that Carol, 65, and her daughters Jess, 40, and Natalya, 25, turned the chat to thong-style swimwear.
In the now-infamous exchange, Jess asked: ‘How’s it acceptable to walk around a beach in a thong?’
Carol agreed that it was ‘not sexy for men to look at’, while Jess added that her husband, Will, ‘cannot stand it’.
Mark Wright (pictured with his wife Michelle keegan) is dumbfounded and furious that his mum and sisters could prompt such a huge scandal, and allow it go blow out of all proportion
On the Wright at Home podcast, Jess (pictured, with Natalya, left) asked: ‘How’s it acceptable to walk around a beach in a thong?’, which prompted women to proudly post images of them wearing their own thongs
But their disapproval, in a clip that went viral, saw a huge backlash online, and prompted women to proudly post images of them wearing their own thongs.
Far the worst part for the Wrights is the fact that the incident – now known as ‘Thong-gate’ – has unmasked Carol and Jess for not being quite as nice as they’d like people to think.
‘Jess keeps saying, “How can people be so mean?”’ continues my source. ‘She is seeing all the posts and reading all the comments. Carol is a bit thicker-skinned, but even she thinks the reaction has been vile.’
That Natalya, 25, the youngest of the Wright clan, has also come under huge attack has also come as a surprise to her followers – and to her very protective older brother Mark.
One source said: ‘Everyone is pretty surprised that Natalya has got herself caught up in this as she’s not really like that. Carol and Jess are pretty well-known for their judgy comments and put-downs of other women.
‘They have a track record of it and have fallen out with so many people in Essex over the years.’
The Wrights have attempted to hit back by setting their manager Benji Rom (described to me by friends of the Wrights as an ‘absolute sycophant’) onto the Press, warning off journalists from being critical of them by citing their mental health as a reason to stop writing articles.
They also attempted an apology, which read: ‘We’ve listened, we hear you and we want to say sorry.
‘Our judgment was wrong and we take full accountability and will do better moving forward.
‘Love Jess, Natalya & Carol.’
Their apology doesn’t appear to have persuaded many of their critics to side with them. And with many in Essex relishing the downfall of the flashy, arrogant Wright family, those who know (and dislike) them are busy speculating about what happens next. Could this be the end of their fame?
‘What is it they say about being careful who you meet on the way up?’ said one source. ‘They are toxic women. In 2026, no woman should be telling another woman what she can or can’t wear.
‘The way they shamed other women was something that they will never recover from. They are finished.’
As for Mark, his fellow Essex residents are keen to see what happens next: will he stick with the family or distance himself from them, like his wife?
One piece of good news is that despite rumours to the contrary, Marks & Spencer have refused to drop the Wright women from their roles as fashion ambassadors.
‘That’ll give them something to be more arrogant about,’ my source quips.
But winning back their fans might take longer than they may have hoped
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