Meghan Markle’s bosses at Netflix are “worried” about the mostly negative reviews for her new lifestyle and cooking show and noted that it has already dropped out of the Top 10 most watched shows in the United States and globally in less than a week, raising questions about the future of her and Prince Harry’s $100 million deal with the streaming service, the Daily Mail is reporting.
A Netflix insider also emphasized that Meghan’s excited announcement that there will be a Season 2 of “With Love, Meghan” doesn’t mean that the streaming giant has renewed her production deal, given that the new episodes were already filmed at the same time as Season 1.
“It’s not a runaway success,” a Netflix insider told the Daily Mail, which tends to be critical of the Duchess of Sussex, like most other British media. However, even typically pro-Meghan and Harry publications in the United States were pretty withering in their reviews, with the eight-episode show show only getting a 33% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes after it launched March 4. The audience rating was only 20% and Rotten Tomatoes didn’t list it in their Top 100 Netflix shows to watch in March 2025.
New York magazine’s Vulture said the show, filmed in a luxury Montecito kitchen and gardens that are not her own, “pioneers new frontiers in unrelatability.” Writer Kathryn VanArendonk said it is “an utterly deranged bizarro world voyage into the center of nothing.” Variety also ripped into Meghan’s adventures in bee-keeping, lettuce-picking, flower arranging and branzino baking as a “Montecito ego trip.” The Hollywood trade publication said the show exists as “a sort of celebration of all things Duchess of Sussex,” and in which no amount of praise from her celebrity guests “seems enough.”
Over at Vanity Fair, contributing editor Anna Peele wrote that one purpose of the show is to “deliberately” push back on staff bullying allegations that have followed the “Duchess of Difficult” from her time as a working member of the British royal family to her professional challenges at Netflix and Spotify in in the United States.
Over the weekend, Meghan was all about positive spin. She showed clips from her show, as she said on Instagram that it was getting a second season. On Instagram stories, she shared photos and videos of viewers who documented themselves following her recipes for pasta and sun tea, as well as her recommendations for arranging flowers and platters of fruit. In an interview at a bookstore near her Montecito home, she admitted to “making mistakes and learning from, and really working to find all the joy while diving into the creative process and the business,” as the Daily Beast reported.
On one hand, Netflix is apparently pleased that Meghan’s show raked in so much publicity, even though Meghan has emerged as one of America’s most polarizing celebrities. “One thing which Netflix loves is controversy — and this show certainly created a lot of debate,” the insider said.
But the Netflix insider rained a bit on Meghan’s Season 2 announcement, as the Daily Mail reported
“I know they filmed the shows back-to-back so in theory there is no second season,” the source said. “It’s like with lots of Netflix shows. It is already in the bag at the same time as the first one.”
“What this does is allow edits to be made to the show from feedback from the press and Netflix viewers,” the source continued. “It’s clever and cost effective. So no the overall contract hasn’t been renewed yet.”
The Daily Mail said that Netflix did not respond to request for comment.
Ahead of the show’s premiere, it was seen as Meghan’s “make-or-break” moment as a future media mogul and entrepreneur. Spotify cut ties with her and Harry in 2023, after she produced only one 12-episode podcast over two years. Meanwhile, Netflix only scored a hit with the couple when they dished dirt about their royal lives and Harry’s family in their 2022 series “Harry and Meghan.” As producers, the couple’s subsequent output for Netflix were ratings disappointments and met with, at best, mixed reviews.
“With Love, Meghan” also was supposed to whet fans’ appetite for Meghan’s much-anticipated line of jam, dog biscuits and other food and home products. But Meghan’s product launch has reportedly been delayed, as it has been mired in trademark disputes and accusations that she has stolen ideas and logos from other entrepreneurs or entities. Apparently at the last moment, just before “With Love, Meghan” launched, Meghan switched up the brand name from American Riviera Orchard to As Ever.
Netflix has said it will set aside space for her products in their two new Netflix department stores in mega-malls in Dallas and outside Philadelphia. Netflix is opening its “Netflix Houses” sometime this year to provide viewers with the chance to purchase clothing, merch and other products associated with some of their most popular shows, including “Bridgerton” and “Squid Game.’