Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, launched her first solo product under the As Ever brand on 18 March, mere hours after Variety reported mounting tensions in her and Prince Harry's £80 million Netflix deal. The Hollywood trade paper detailed insider frustrations with the couple's output, suggesting their streaming ambitions are faltering five years into the partnership. Netflix executives, including co-CEO Ted Sarandos, are said to be increasingly exasperated.
The Sussexes inked the lucrative pact back in 2020, riding high on their royal exit drama. Their tell-all docuseries Harry & Meghan drew big numbers in 2022, pulling in viewers eager for the inside story on leaving the Firm amid what they called brutal media scrutiny from Harry's family. Yet ambitions for a full entertainment empire have stumbled since.
Harry's polo series limped out to modest interest, while Meghan's lifestyle show With Love, Meghan peaked in the Top 10 last year before its follow-up and festive special tanked in ratings. Netflix insiders whisper the honeymoon's well and truly over.
Netflix Deal Faces Insider Backlash
Variety's 17 March scoop laid bare the cracks. Sources claimed the couple's projects haven't matched the hype or the cash injected – the deal, initially billed at £100 million, later pegged nearer £60 million. Last summer, it was quietly reshaped into a first-look arrangement, signalling dimmed expectations. One Netflix executive bluntly told the magazine, 'The mood in the building is 'We're done.''
Tensions reportedly centre on Meghan's style. Insiders alleged she interrupts Harry mid-sentence, often with a touch on his arm or thigh, recasting his ideas. Harry dismissed this as 'categorically false,' while her lawyer Michael J. Kump slammed Variety for peddling misogynistic tropes of the wife bossing her man.
Then there's the Zoom vanishing acts: sources said Meghan dips out if offended. Her team counters it's just mum life – wrangling six-year-old Archie and four-year-old Lilibet from their Montecito home means the odd nappy break or kid crisis.
The Sarandos nugget stung most. Variety said the Netflix boss, who neighbours the Sussexes in California's elite enclave, now won't take Meghan's calls sans lawyer – perhaps in jest, perhaps not. Netflix's spokesperson fired back, labelling it 'absolutely inaccurate.' Kump's letter insisted Meghan chats and texts Sarandos freely, even visiting his pad lawyer-free.
At the Next on Netflix event next day, content chief Bela Bajaria brushed it off: 'Don't believe whatever you read.' She stressed the tie-up endures, with TV and film projects brewing, including two book adaptations.
The Pivots as Netflix Whispers Grow Louder
Meghan's not dwelling. Her Bloom Box with High Camp Supply hit shelves packed with gardenias, white peonies, mint, jasmine, plus As Ever peppermint tea and sage honey – a £50ish kit promising 'the feeling of the garden inside.'
It followed the Netflix split on her lifestyle venture, framed mutually as planned. A source told Star: 'Anyone who spends time with Meghan will tell you she's all business in every aspect of her life.' Harry, meanwhile, stays smitten amid the flak.
Sceptics might eye the timing. Is this solo push a defiant sidestep from Netflix woes, or proof she's the driver? Variety paints a duo adrift, magic faded, but pushback reveals a war of narratives. Hollywood loves a villainess, especially one who ditched palace protocol for deal-making clout. Yet Meghan's camp frames it as tabloid hatchet job on a working mum hustling in a cut-throat town.
The real test? Those promised films. If they flop like the rest, whispers become roars. Netflix holds the purse, but Meghan's got the brand – garden-fresh and unbowed. Harry's polo passion aside, her solo lane looks busier than their joint one lately. One wonders if Sarandos texts back promptly these days.
