Ready for another round of failure and fake fun from Meghan Markle?
Or should we call her Meghan Sussex?
On Tuesday, the Duchess dropped the new trailer for Part 2 (really, Season 1 broken up, but that’s how it’s being sold to us) of her lifestyle/hosting/showing-off Netflix show, With Love, Meghan.
The comments under her Instagram post were turned off – curious for a woman who seems so certain that she’s deserving of endless applause and adulation.
Ever untethered from reality, Meghan is treating this as a win, even as Netflix has just declined to renew her and Harry’s $100 million deal.
Instead, the Sussexes now have a ‘first look’ deal with the streamer – which means very little. If they have a pitch, it goes to Netflix first. That’s it.
But as with all things Sussex, losses are spun into wins, and the inglorious drop of this trailer – in the middle of the day on Tuesday, with little fanfare, and an August 26 premiere date rather than a prominent fall debut – says just how little faith Netflix seems to have in this iteration.
‘The best moments are made to be shared,’ Meghan wrote in her post.
Some Netflix execs would doubtless disagree.
Ready for another round of failure and fake fun from Meghan Markle? Or should we call her Meghan Sussex?
In fact, a source told the Daily Mail that management is still ‘upset’ that Harry’s memoir Spare ‘undercut’ what they clearly thought was exclusive to their royal-bashing docuseries.
‘The $100 million deal has been an expensive failure for Netflix, however they want to dress it up,’ the source said.
Of course it has!
The first installment of With Love, Meghan, which premiered in March, ranked 383 in Netflix’s global viewing, and amassed only 5.3 million views between January and June. A mere two minutes is what Netflix counts as a ‘view’.
Her most famous guest thus far has been Mindy Kaling, who Meghan snapped at for calling her ‘Meghan Markle’.
‘It’s so funny that you keep saying Meghan Markle,’ she said, her shoulders tensing and voice tightening. ‘You know I’m Sussex now.’
You could see the light fade from Kaling’s eyes in that moment. It was a rude, imperious, unnecessary comment – and Meghan had the temerity to correct her guest! What a faux pas!
But Meghan Markle thinks she should be teaching us the finer points of etiquette.
Yes, look to her – a woman who does not speak to her family of origin save her mother, and who has helped her husband sever ties to his own family – to learn how to make family, friends, neighbors and strangers feel comfortable in one’s home.
Who better? Truly.
Now to Netflix’s description of Season 2, or Part 2 as I call it: ‘Meghan returns with a fun and heartwarming new season, welcoming celebrity chefs, talented artists and beloved friends for hands-on adventures filled with laughter and discovery.’
Beloved friends? As I have previously written, Meghan allegedly tried to get Dolly Parton to appear on With Love, and Dolly declined.
‘Her team was livid,’ royal reporter Kinsey Schofield told me. ‘They don’t want to risk Dolly’s epic popularity by associating with Meghan Markle.’
Instead, we get the return of Daniel the make-up artist; various dubious figures in the self-help space, including the baby-voiced Jamie Kern Lima; and Chrissy Teigen, the talent-free wife of John Legend who was nearly cancelled for harassing the young starlet Courtney Stodden online.
A sample of Teigen’s tweets to Stodden:
‘Curvy bod NEVER ceases to make me laugh. Thank you @courtneystodden you are truly a twitter dream.’
‘I hate you.’
‘What drug makes you do that with your mouth? Asking for a friend who really wants to know how to look like an idiot. Thanks.’
‘My Friday fantasy: you. Dirt nap. Mmmmmm baby’.
Stodden was 16 years old at the time.
‘I did actually almost succeed at committing suicide because of — it was a huge part of it. I had a suicide letter written,’ Stodden later said of the cyberbullying. ‘My last thought was, you know, maybe I don’t deserve to be here when people that high up are telling me I don’t deserve to be.’
And Meghan thought Teigen was the perfect person to invite into her borrowed kitchen, to spread love, joy and generosity!
Sure, Teigen subsequently apologized. But lest we forget that Meghan spearheaded her own anti-cyberbullying campaign.
The hypocrisy!
Chrissy Teigen, the talent-free wife of John Legend, was nearly cancelled for harassing the young starlet Courtney Stodden online
Sure, Teigen subsequently apologized. But lest we forget that Meghan spearheaded her own anti-cyberbullying campaign
This new installment is a retread of the first: Old-time Top 40 hits, Meghan painting, gift wrapping, baking, clapping her hands and uttering such inanities as:
‘I love the idea of spending time together.’
‘Let’s get creative and learn something new.’
‘There are easy ways to show up lovingly.’
Sure! Just ask the British Royal Family.
Meghan — much as Sarah Jessica Parker before her — is refusing to take the rejection slip from the C-suite and the culture.
Next up: A special edition titled, With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration, scheduled for this December — surely close to when the Princess of Wales holds her annual Together at Christmas concert at Westminster Abbey.
That announcement came not from Netflix but via Meghan and Harry’s Archewell Productions.
‘Join Meghan in Montecito for a magical holiday celebration,’ the statement read.
Harry wasn’t even mentioned! Then again, it’s very on-brand for Meghan: Tout the sacred bonds of family while ignoring the bulk of one’s own.
A domestic goddess, indeed.
