Meghan Markle ‘Past the Point’ of Letting Scrutiny ‘Affect Her’: ‘It’s Critical to Keep Her Chin Up’

Less than two weeks after the Duchess of Sussex and Netflix announced they were ending their year-long partnership with her As Ever lifestyle brand, which both claimed was always the plan, Meghan unveiled her first product drop as she goes it alone. On March 18, the 44-year-old released a Bloom Box collaboration with luxury floral company High Camp Supply featuring fresh gardenias, white peonies, mint and jasmine alongside her As Ever peppermint tea and sage honey, a package designed to “bring the feeling of the garden inside.”

But while Meghan is forging ahead on her own, a very different narrative is emerging. Her latest launch came just hours after Variety, a respected Hollywood trade publication, released a blistering March 17 report packed with bombshell claims that Meghan and husband Prince Harry’s overall deal with Netflix deal is under strain. The story also detailed mounting frustrations aimed at the couple behind the scenes, suggesting their entertainment empire ambitions may have hit a wall amid whispers the magic around the couple has started to fade.

Honeymoon’s Over

They were once expected to be major players after signing a reported $100 million contract with the streamer in 2020, which the outlet later revealed was worth closer to $60 million. Those hopes flourished after the success of their 2022 docuseries, Harry & Meghan, which chronicled their decision to leave Britain’s royal family amid U.K. media attacks they said were fueled by Harry’s family. But since then, their other projects, including the 41-year-old Duke of Sussex’s Polo docuseries and the former Suits star’s cooking and entertaining show, With Love, Meghan — which debuted in the Top 10 a year ago before a subsequent season and holiday special saw a massive ratings drop — have failed to deliver the viewership the streamer expected. Last summer, five years in, their agreement was downgraded to a first-look deal. As one Netflix insider told Variety, “The mood in the building is ‘We’re done.’”

Multiple insiders further told the mag that Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos — who socializes with Sussexes, his neighbors in posh Montecito, Calif. — has grown frustrated with the couple and recently said he wouldn’t take the duchess’ call without an attorney present, though it was unclear whether he was joking. Either way, the response was swift: A Netflix spokesperson called the claim “absolutely inaccurate,” while Meghan’s lawyer Michael J. Kump, in a letter to Variety, termed the allegation “blatantly false,” adding that “Meghan texts and speaks with Mr. Sarandos regularly, and has been to his home, sans lawyers.” At a March 18 Next on Netflix event, chief content officer Bela Bajaria also pushed back on the report, saying, “Don’t believe whatever you read,” reiterating that Netflix still has an ongoing relationship with the Sussexes, with “things in development on the TV and film side,” including two book-to-film projects.

Ruffling Feathers

There was also pushback against Variety’s depiction of Meghan’s behind-the-scenes style, including that she “tends to talk over or recast Prince Harry’s thoughts, sometimes while he is mid-sentence,” often “preceded by a touch to the arm or thigh.” Harry quickly called the claim “categorically false,” with Meghan’s lawyer accusing the mag of playing into “the misogynistic characterization of her bossing her husband around.”

The mag further alleged that the duchess sometimes “disappeared” from Zoom calls, citing sources who claimed, “Her absence was due to her being offended by something that was said.” The former actress’ legal team insisted there’s a far simpler explanation: She’s juggling work from home with young children — Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4 — and, like many parents, sometimes has to briefly step away during meetings.

Also disputed by the streamer or the Sussexes: Variety’s claims that Netflix was blindsided by the couple’s bombshell-filled March 2021 CBS interview — the one in which the couple revealed that someone in Harry’s family made racist comments about their future children and that the Princess of Wales made Meghan cry before her 2018 wedding. Plus, that there was friction over a perception the couple was holding back information from their late-2022 docuseries so it would come out in Harry’s bestselling January 2023 memoir, Spare.

Netflix wouldn’t be the only company to change its mind about the Sussexes. In June 2023 — the same month Spotify announced it had ended its deal with the couple after they produced just a single season of Meghan’s Archetypes podcast — the company’s head of talk strategy, Bill Simmons, called them “f**king grifters,” per Variety.

He’d previously mocked them on a 2022 episode of his podcast: “You live in f**king Montecito, and you just sell documentaries and podcasts, and nobody cares what you have to say about anything unless you talk about the royal family, and you just complain about them.”

Family Friction

At the same time, criticism from within royal circles is intensifying. In his new book Betrayal: Power, Deceit and the Fight for the Future of the Royal Family, out March 26, author Tom Bower writes — as seen in an excerpt in The Times of London — that Prince William, 43, and Princess Kate, 44, decided early on that Meghan was “a divisive agent” and “a threat,” to the royal family, alleging that the American divorcée was disappointed that she and Harry would never be king and queen. In another passage, he claims Queen Camilla, 78, told a friend, “Meghan’s brainwashed Harry,” who he says was deeply changed by the relationship. “To please [Meghan], Harry was ignoring his old friends,” Bower writes, even “chang[ing] his telephone number without telling his family.” (The Sussexes again swiftly fired back, accusing Bower of having “long crossed the line from criticism into fixation” and dismissing his claims as “deranged conspiracy and melodrama.”)

The timing couldn’t be worse. “It’s very difficult, if not obstructive, that Harry finds himself in this position at a time that he’s still desperately trying to build a bridge with his family” and continue efforts to reconnect with his cancer-stricken father, King Charles III, 77, the source explains. “He could well do without the distracting drama… because he gets judged by association.” Even so, Harry will always choose Meghan. “To him, Meghan’s his soul mate… he will always be indebted and in awe of her,” the source adds, noting Harry’s focus remains on “being a dad, playing polo and promoting his philanthropy” — even as “all this noise… is painful and tiresome.”

Paying The Price

Meghan, as usual, is brushing off the backlash and doubling down, the source tells Star. “She’s sticking up for herself and saying these are classic spite tactics from people who are trying to tear her down — in no small part because she’s a strong, ambitious woman,” explains the source. “She’s way past the point of letting the scrutiny affect her. In her mind it’s critical to keep her chin up and not allow haters to distract from her goals.”

She may be able to keep her eye on the prize, but that doesn’t mean the backlash isn’t growing. Following the release of Variety’s report, Bower said he felt vindicated, telling the U.K.’s Daily Express on March 18 that he believes the Sussexes “are reaching the end of the road in Hollywood.”

Bower also suggested any attempt to reset their standing back in Britain — amid reports they’re eyeing a return this summer to mark the one-year kickoff to Harry’s next Invictus Games, set for Birmingham, England, in July 2027 — are doomed. “Their behavior, lack of original talent and suffocating self-importance has made it even more important for them to return to Britain… and be revalidated as royals,” Bower said of their current position as not-quite royals. “That option, I believe, will be denied to them. They face an increasingly tough future. That’s the price of betraying the royal family…”