Meghan Markle Struggles to Book A-List Guests for Netflix Show: ‘Loves’ a Chef She’s Never Met?
A few pals and neighbours turned up and two celeb chefs the Duchess of Sussex had never met — but none of her A-list chums such as Oprah Winfrey or the Beckhams.
Instead, viewers see her with her make-up artist Daniel Martin and a sprinkling of other minor celebs in the eight-part cookery offering, entitled With Love, Meghan.
One reviewer called it “gormless” and “so pointless it might be the Sussexes’ last TV show”.
Another complained that the “banter” between Meghan and her guests had “all the spark of a dead battery”.
The series, in which Prince Harry, 40, is restricted to brief cameos, was filmed at a farmhouse near the Sussexes’ mansion in Montecito, California.
It was the couple’s second show for Netflix after Harry & Meghan in 2022 in which she mocked the late Queen with an elaborate curtsy during the six-part whinge-fest.
Meghan, 43, put out failed Spotify podcast Archetypes in the same year, which did at least draw big name stars including Mariah Carey and Paris Hilton.
This time, Abigail Spencer, who was in US drama Suits with Meghan, appears as well as neighbour Delfina Blaquier, wife of polo pal Nacho Figueras.
Mum-of-two Meg’s LA pal Kelly Zajfen also shows along with skincare tycoon Vicky Tsai, who also made an appearance in Harry & Meghan.
Actress Mindy Kaling, who was in the failed podcast, is in one episode.
When Kaling, star of the US version of The Office, refers to her as “Meghan Markle”, the Duchess corrects her, saying: “It’s so funny you keep saying Meghan Markle, you know I’m Sussex now.’”
Meghan, who has not visited Britain since Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in September 2022, adds: “I didn’t know how meaningful it would be to me but it just means so much to go ‘This is our family name. Our little family name’.” Mindy replies: “Well, now I know.”
Meanwhile, celebrity chefs Roy Choi and Alice Waters, who are only known to Stateside viewers, are in one episode each.
One reviewer said Meghan was so fawning over Waters that her guest appeared “faintly alarmed”.
Among stars watchers may have expected to see were tennis pal Serena Williams, who appeared with Meghan and Princess Lilibet on Instagram a few days ago, and George and Amal Clooney who were at the Sussexes’ wedding.
A source told The Sun: “They struggled to book guests. They had a real hard time, and it shows.”
Insiders believe Netflix’s tie-up for With Love, Meghan and her As Ever lifestyle products brand is a “make or break” moment for her.
Sun columnist Jane Moore described the 33-minute episodes as “boring”.
She wrote: “It’s beautifully lit and the expert camerawork makes everything look like an M&S food ad on steroids, but never has the phrase ‘style over substance’ been so apt.”
She went on: “There’s nothing here that we haven’t seen a million times before . . . and done better by true experts.”
Giving it two stars, Anita Singh, the Telegraph’s arts and entertainment editor, said it was an “exercise in narcissism filled with extravagant brunches, celebrity pals and business plugs”.
She wrote: “The format is this: Meghan invites people to her pretend house — the show is filmed in an $8million farmhouse down the road from her $14million home — and they tell her how amazing she is. This happens for eight episodes.”
On Waters, she said: “Meghan didn’t know Waters beforehand but love-bombs her to the point where Waters looks faintly alarmed.”
In The Times, Carol Midgley wrote: “If you thought With Love, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex’s new lifestyle show, would be a smug, syrupy endurance watch, and that you would rather fry your eyeballs than sit through it, I have news for you. It is so much worse than that.”
Stuart Heritage wrote in The Guardian: “Kiss the Netflix deal goodbye! With Love, Meghan is so pointless it might be the Sussexes’ last TV show.”
In The Spectator, Alexander Larman wrote: “There is a tangible desperation here.”
The Irish Times described the episodes as “moribund” and “bland”. It added: “It doesn’t even rise to the status of a hate-watch.”
However, the series, which aired in the UK at 8am yesterday, is expected to top the Netflix charts.
THE most eye-rolling moment in Meghan’s new show comes when she presents a pot of boiled spaghetti and tomatoes like Moses delivering the Ten Commandments.
Yet here was a meal which I’m pretty sure every student in the world has made.
It’s only towards the end of episode one you realise this isn’t just her bid to flog some jams.
With Love, Meghan is a series of hints and metaphors designed to subtly change your mind about the Mary Berry of Montecito.
The most glaring comes when she delivers her “vision” of a honey and lemon cake: “She’s so beautiful on the inside. You just don’t know how good she is until you go deep.”
Okay, we hear you, Meg.
Except the feeling you’re left with isn’t that she’s incredibly deep, or good, or beautiful, it’s just that this is a woman with too much money and time on her hands.
And now she expects to part with more of our pounds to be a part of it.
