Given the Duchess of Sussex’s big launch of her new lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, I thought we should discuss this curiously on-target piece from Page Six, which was published a couple of weeks ago. My first reaction to it was “this will never happen,” but as it turns out, Page Six might actually have some sources after all! Page Six’s sources have said for months now: Lifestyle Queen Meghan is coming, just you wait! Some highlights:
The Nu Ina Garten: Meghan Markle will use the final year of her current Netflix contract to “take on” America’s most famous lifestyle queens — like Ina Garten, Martha Stewart or Joanna Gaines, sources say.
The Netflix contract: The contract Markle and Prince Harry signed with the streamer back in 2020 runs until the end of 2025, but multiple insiders told Page Six they don’t expect either side will want to renew the deal. Sources say Harry and Meghan’s Netflix deal won’t be renewed when the contract ends next year — and that Meghan is trying to position herself as a lifestyle entrepreneur à la Joanna Gaines or Gwyneth Paltrow. Hollywood insiders now expect Markle to work on a Netflix project close to her heart: something in the same realm as her former lifestyle blog, The Tig.
Ah, an industry insider! “From what I understand, I think Meghan will take on Martha Stewart, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ina Garten and play them at their own game,” said one industry insider. She is getting advice from powerful friends like Claire Waight Keller, the former Givenchy designer who created her wedding dress and with whom she had lunched Thursday at Beverly Hill power spot Ciccone, and who just signed a big deal with Uniqlo and Victoria Jackson, a QVC star and makeup entrepreneur.
The ‘Together’ cookbook publishers pitched a cooking show: In 2018, while still a working member of the royal family, she launched a cookbook to raise funds for the victims of the tragic Grenfell blaze in London. We’re told that the publishers of the “Together/Grenfell” cookbook had also pitched a cooking series — along the lines of the power of food bringing communities together — with Markle.
Meghan would have be relatable: “This would not surprise me,” a Hollywood source said of Markle wanting her own lifestyle empire. But, the source added, “She would have to be relatable and natural, the way Drew Barrymore is, it can’t feel contrived or like she’s acting.”
Authenticity is key: “The reason Martha, Joanna and Gwynet have crushed it is because they’ve let viewers into their most private spaces and shared their biggest secrets,” said Rachel Richardson, a former SnapChat exec and writer of the Highly Flammable trends newsletter. “Authenticity is key in the lifestyle arena and those that succeed tend to be willing to share their whole lives. Think about it — what do we not know about Gwenyth Paltrow? In ‘Harry and Meghan’ [Netflix documentary] and the Oprah interview, Megan let cameras capture some aspects of her private life. But to pull off a successful lifestyle show she’ll have to be prepared to swing the door all the way open.”
I’ve always said that Meghan should move into the cooking/celebrity-food arena, have a cooking show and put out cookbooks. Yes, she’s not a trained chef but “celebrity cooks” are a thing and it’s a lucrative business if a person works on camera, and Meghan is one of the most photogenic and watchable people I’ve ever seen in my life. I actually think Page Six was really on to something now – is a Netflix cooking show happening? A cookbook is surely happening! I’m so happy!
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Archewell.
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- Meghan, Duchess of Sussex helps to prepare food at the launch of a cookbook with recipes from a group of women affected by the Grenfell Tower fire at Kensington Palace in London on September 20, 2018.,Image: 534009013, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- Meghan (C), Duchess of Sussex helps to prepare food at the launch of a cookbook with recipes from a group of women affected by the Grenfell Tower fire at Kensington Palace in London on September 20, 2018.,Image: 534009034, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- Meghan, Duchess of Sussex helps to prepare food at the launch of a cookbook with recipes from a group of women affected by the Grenfell Tower fire at Kensington Palace in London on September 20, 2018.,Image: 534009087, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- Meghan, Duchess of Sussex helps to prepare food at the launch of a cookbook with recipes from a group of women affected by the Grenfell Tower fire at Kensington Palace in London on September 20, 2018.,Image: 534009088, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 21: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by the ‘Together: Our Community’ Cookbook are making a difference at Al Manaar, North Kensington on November 21, 2018 in London, England.,Image: 534664062, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 21: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex has a drink as she visits the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by the ‘Together: Our Community’ Cookbook are making a difference at Al Manaar, North Kensington on November 21, 2018 in London, England.
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 21: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by the ‘Together: Our Community’ Cookbook are making a difference at Al Manaar, North Kensington on November 21, 2018 in London, England.
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 21: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex talks to chef Clare Smyth as she visits the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by the ‘Together: Our Community’ Cookbook are making a difference at Al Manaar, North Kensington on November 21, 2018 in London, England.
I hope so!! I would definitely curtsy to Queen Meghan!! Queen of Home Goods, Queen of Cooking and Queen of Our Hearts! Long Live the Queen!
It would be fabulous if she brought some of the women from Hubb Community Kitchen over to cook some of their recipes. She could bring together people from the various causes she championed and cook together.
This is such a good idea, I really hope you are right! There are so many different people from different organizations she supports that I can imagine fitting perfectly in this scenario. Hubb, Welcome Project, Uvalde families, Invictus families, a very special cooking with the cast of Suits!!, DORIA, I could go on and on and on.
I always thought going in the similar direction of the tig or bringing back the tig would be the way to go. At the same time doing side projects/movies/philanthropy.
Whatever it ends up looking like I’m glad she’s willing to step out and try and I hope she finds great success and fullfillement.
I’m picturing it now. Meghan at home (not her real home but a lovely stand in), cooking and hosting a mix of celebrity friends and regular people she’s inspired by having deep, meaningful chats. Everything in the home are products from American Riviera Orchard.
That would be perfect!
As she should! She was already headed down this path with the tig before her detour to rescue a prince so I’m glad she’s back on track.
lol. He was really the prince living under the cupboard. It is crazy to think what would happen to him without Meghan, especially after K&W’s kids grow up, Will becomes the King controlling the purse, and they wouldn’t need him anymore.
That would have been a miserable existence. Probably still drinking and doing whatever he was doing before her another tragic Margaret. Thank God for Meghan.
YeahRIght, You are cracking me up with the” detour to rescue a prince” comment. Exactly! She’s back on track.
That got me too!
LOLOL. This is my favorite comment this week. Hands down!
Page Six is trash. That was not hard to figure out because of she was doing things like this with TIG. This is now on a bigger scale. I have no sources, but knew it was coming and so much more. There will be a lot more things done with the younger generation. Sit back and wait.
Love it! Awesome comment @YeahRight@!
OMG @yeahright I absolutely love this comment!! rescue the prince is right. not only is Meghan a real life princess but shes also a knight in shining armor rescuing Harry from the clutches of the evil empire. swoon! be still my beating heart. may they live happily after 😊
So if this has turned out to be true, the show would be about “food bringing communities together.” Sounds great!
With Gwyneth, I don’t know how much she’s really shown us. We know all about her kooky alternative medicine beliefs, but a lot of the other stuff (what Gwyneth eats, for instance), I just don’t believe. She’s created an illusion of access without real access, so Meghan could do that as well and succeed—provide a powerful impression of aesthetic accuracy while leaving facts and children and day-to-day stuff private. She doesn’t have to “swing the door wide open,” as much as all of us would like (some people for good reasons, some people for bad reasons).
I agree. Gwyneth has mostly kept her childrens’ lives private.
Even with Ina, all we really know is what food Jeffrey likes!
Right. those women all sell a brand. Ina isn’t showing people her bedroom etc.
Years ago, there was a panel discussion with some big bloggers- think Pioneer Woman (this was YEARS ago like I said, before her Pawhuska store/restaurant, before Walmart, maybe a cookbook or two but she was still very much a blogger.) and the panel was asked something about letting people see your life and Ree Drummond was like, you’re a brand. You’re not selling your life. You’re selling a brand of your life. Share what supports that brand and don’t worry about the rest of it.
I mean she uses a whole damn separate house now for her cookbook photos and cooking show lol.
Meghan doesn’t need to let cameras into her house (maybe the patio or kitchen lol) and doesn’t need to sacrifice Archie and Lili’s privacy for this.
If it will be like the Together cookbook, then the focus would be on communities and other people and cultures, not so much the inner sactum of Montecito.
Agreed. That assertion is BS.
This could be a great venue to feature different causes they support too, Chef Andres and the Together crowd. Meghan looks super at-ease cooking with people, and it’s a good way for people to share their stories and love of life. I used to love the feature in Martha’s mag where they had impossibly gorgeous dinner parties. And then viewers can make the food and actually taste what was happening. It’s a formula, but it’s a happy one.
I would die of happiness if she did a show with Chef Andres! She could take it on the road, and visit some of the MANY WCKs around the world.
That would be such a great collaboration! They are both used to a camera, they are engaging, and because Archewell supports WCK, there’s your common denominator. And Chef is can be so zany in cooking segments, that I’m pretty sure she’d be giggling like crazy! The flip side to them both is their shared humanity in feeding people, helping communities in times of disaster, and a generally similar view on philanthropy and helping others. I would watch a show with them all day long.
They may very well be right this time but I’m not taking what Page Six as the gospel truth. Just a few days ago, Page Six tried to involve Meghan and Harry in Kate’s mess.
Why do they have to make it sound like Meghan is going after the other women? Do they constantly claim that Gwyneth is trying to dethrone Martha?
Because pitting women against each other is their default setting. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gwyneth makes a guest appearance on her show.
I think she and Jennifer Garner would be hilarious together.
Oh, @Christine, that’s a great pairing, too!
Yes, actually that was a constant claim about Gwyneth for a long time, and both Gwyneth and Martha would get asked about it in interviews a lot.
Meghan’s reply to this, and she’s said it before, would be that she’s hoping everyone gets to win and that the room is big enough for everyone, or a bigger room will be created. She will be joining a sisterhood. I don’t think Ina is trying to wipe out Martha or vice versa. I don’t sense there is a big competition for the lifestyle queens. They are each different and have their own niche. Meghan has never believed in the zero sum game. She can’t and be an advocate for equality. Her show will demonstrate community and inclusiveness. There may not be a new contract with Netflix like the one they have now, but I imagine that Harry and Meghan could still produce things on Netflix. Isn’t Meghan going to produce a movie based on Meet Me at the Lake? Harry might voice or produce documentaries like Obama.
I for one would LOVE a show bringing different, not as common, ethnicities of cooking to the table!! That would be so awesome~yes, please have a guest chef teaching me how to make Vietnamese Pho! Or a guest chef teaching me how to make Biryani! The possibilities are endless. My one suggestion would be to put out an ingredient list beforehand so that people could be “prepped” when the show airs. I was about to give up Netflix, but if this type of thing is on offer I will keep it.
I was thinking the same thing. Make it multi cultural and have guest chefs make authentic food from home. It would be cool if she worked with Chef Andres to get some of the chefs who he works with with WCK.
My new year’s resolution was to not post on Kate Middleton. I find it negative; she brings out the worst because she does nothing positive and surrounds herself with rage, against Meghan primarily. Far more positive to focus on a woman doing positive things. And this brings me right back to my January mindset. It’s going to be amazing. I’ve been thinking, food stuff isn’t me, some of it won’t ship here. But, cookbooks, home ware – I’ll buy it. For me. For gifts. It’s going to be high end and beautifully curated. These aren’t baby steps away from their thwarted UK lives; these are huge steps. I’m so pleased for her and Harry. And I’m pleased for those of us who knew they were on the side of energy, positivity, and happiness. Kate, you’ve ****ed up in so many ways. May you recover. But this is forwards. And that’s the last time, I hope, I’ll mention your name in relation to Meghan’s. It’s not a competition between two women, and it’s not onwards. Talking about Meghan & Kate together brings down what Meghan achieves in her own right.
@sparrow
Totally agree wth everything you said.
While we all have creative energy, M is one of the few amongst us who tries to spend all her energy on building…..on creating…..on uplifting. She’s so intentional about what she puts out in the world because she clearly believes in Karma and only wants good Karma for herself and loved ones.
I recall seeing a quote on her Tig: “how people treat you is their karma; the way you respond to that treatment is yours”
Consider the choice of accompanying music to the intro to her IG: “I Wish You Love” sung by Nancy Wilson.:
I wish you bluebirds in the spring
To give your heart a song to sing
And then a kiss, but more than this
I wish you love
And in July a lemonade
To cool you in some leafy glade
I. WISH. YOU. HEALTH. AND. MORE. THAN. WEALTH.
I wish you love
My breaking heart and I agree
That you and I could never be
SO WITH MY VERY BEST
I SET YOU FREE
I wish you shelter from the storm
A cozy fire to keep you warm
BUT MOST OF ALL…..
I WISH YOU LOVE.
Since 2020 and their Freedom Flight, M has consistently and persistently done the work to get back to her core self; layer by layer, sloughing off the UK experience, circa 2017-2020, from her psyche. And step by step, she’s getting back to her core self. And she knows that the path to that is to wish her enemies well (because she knows that thats the only way to attract the best for yourself.) She’s a true believer. While many of us know thats the only path to inner peace, we dont always behave in that way, myself included.
Lovely message. This is where I started from, with so much happiness. Their wedding was a gorgeous day and I truly felt the UK was on a path to modernity with her. I am fed up of the hatred from the BRF; it’s tiring and wearing. It overshadows what they do in my mind sometimes. No longer!
I can’t help but laugh a little though, Sparrow. The Universe really looked right at you and said, “We dare you!”
Hi Christine. Do you mean, the new year universe looked at me and said, go on, make yourself stop IF YOU CAN? If so. That is funny. Yes, I determined in December that she simply didn’t warrant the amount of time and thought she took up in my head. She is the opposite of interesting to me, which kind of makes her interesting in and of itself! And then I get drawn back in with her. And this week really hit the fan – I couldn’t stop thinking about what the hell’s going on with her. I mean in terms of resolutions she was way down below, give more to my favourite charities; cook different things for once; etc. But she is a void.
That’s exactly what I meant!
I feel like Meg’s going to be the middle way between Martha Stewart and Gwenyth Paltrow. Somewhere along the lines of Joanna Gaines except more food related rather than home decor. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Target or Kohl’s line coming soon. But Meghan’s obsessive eye is why I think she’ll succeed. She’ll never allow quality to be an issue and this is why I’m signing on for her brand.
Do you think she’ll ship internationally? I’m now thinking there will be stuff of great interest to people such as I am – not foodies but liking nice home ware etc (if that’s what she does). I don’t do social media and notifications etc. I’m sure her website going live will be covered here and I can jump on. Let’s face it, it’ll all sell out!
If she’s smart, she’ll get an Amazon deal and becomes a premiere Amazon brand. If she does that Harry & Meghan will never have to worry about money again (not that I think they do at this point anyways).
Wow! That would be great, K8erade. It’s wonderful that she’s kind of busied herself away with this and launched something so well thought out and amazing. I’m not familiar with her previous lifestyle site. I remember hearing she was working on a relaunch of something along the same lines, and then I forgot, and here it is, perfectly complete.
I think the comparisons to ina Garten or Martha Stewart don’t make a lot of sense. Yes they’re celebrities now, but both of their celebrity was based upon their success and chefs and caterers, and they had cookbook deals and then television shows that followed that success. Also I think of Ina solely as a chef/cookbook author / cooking show person – I don’t think that Ina’s trying to get into the “lifestyle” business. I think the Gwyneth comparison is definitely the one that sounds closes to what she’s looking to do. Maybe even Blake Lively comparison as well, she also does a lot of lifestyle type business and at one point had a lifestyle blog before she shuttered it. The article stating that Gwyneth lets people into her life or is relatable is very strange however. Honestly, both Gwyneth and Blake Lively are pretty private and also wouldn’t describe either as relatable. But that hasn’t stopped them from doing well in the lifestyle arena, so I would think that Megan’s path would be more analogous to theirs. Meghan also strikes me as a pretty private person, and also not really relatable,which is fine. I don’t think lifestyle people need to be relatable, most are the opposite (aspirational).
Meghan had already a successful business and following before marrying that family: The Tig. No need to compare her to some other brands. Only difference, she has more eyeballs now watching her. People said she would recommend affordable stuff too with The Tig. So, I don’t know where this “unrelatable” came from. She isn’t doing this first time.
That whole article is assumptive garbage.
They say things that “might” happen or “could” happen and then add that in order to do this she’ll “need to do…” and finally they wrap the whole thing up with trying to create an all woman Thunderdome.
Plus, Ina and Martha are from a completely different generation. They won’t compete but appeal to different audiences.
If I remember correctly Harry mentioned that she cooked him chicken on one of their first dates?
We’ll need that recipe.
Didn’t she use one of Ina’s chicken recipes?
Yes, it was the famous Ina Garten Roast Chicken, the one with a lemon inside. I’ve tried her recipe and it came out blah. (I’ve tried every recipe for roast chicken and they’ve all come out blah though!) Meghan’s a Leo and they are naturally superb cooks. I think it’s a great fit for her personality. You can tell she loves food, even if she doesn’t eat much of it!
Agnes. I am a terrible cook, which is why I don’t go near chicken. A few years ago, I heard a food hygiene expert on the radio saying she’d never let one over the threshold because of the danger in even slight under cooking. That was me done! Knowing me and my poor skills, I’d bring the whole family down with food poisoning. And I don’t eat it, ever, even cooked by someone else. I understand M’s always been a foodie? I wish she’d cook for me and my family. I am limited.
I would love it if Netflix dropped a cooking/lifestyle show the same day her product line is posted to the American Riviera Orchard ig account. I have my ig account now so I’m ready.
Is the product line items she has sourced and recommended or is she actually designing and manufacturing products?
I wouldn’t want that for her. It’s already so saturated and unoriginal. Nothing against cooking shows but I think being more private is what makes her more bankable. You have to insert a lot of you own life and stories into it and that is what would be expected of her and I think she can go a much more ..ummm high end angle.
I hadn’t thought of that. I don’t know how it goes in America. Closest I can think is perhaps Nigella Lawson here in the UK. It’s a really good point you’ve made; perhaps it would get too close and also become a bit generic. I’ve been concentrating more on what she’ll have to buy on her site, thinking high end stuff. I imagine and hope she’ll be capable enough to make sure any programme respects her intentions to remain not run of the mill and low/middle brow. From what I’ve seen, it looks exclusive yet relatable. It’d be a shame for it to be diluted on TV.
Interesting that they mentioned Claire’s deal with Victoria Jackson in tbis exert but not that Meghan is very close to her which says a lot about that ‘indusrry insider’ (unless they mentioned it in the page 6 article as i refuse to click on that rag). If i remember correctly Meghan’s Cut photoshoot was taken at Victoria’s home and she mentioned in the article that they also had Harry’s birthday at Victoria’s house. If Meghan is looking to build a lifestyle brand, which it definitely seems she is, she has a lot of people to lean because she also seems to be friends with Gwyneth and she knows Jennifer Garner whose Once Upon A Farm is doing really well(though American Riviera Orchard has already passed it in IG followers in less than 24 hrs which is nuts).
If you looked at her and Harry walking together in the video of them going to give out the NAACP Award you can see the peacefulness in both of them. Just them looking at each other shows that they have both moved on from the chaos of the Royal family. She has truly moved on no matter how hard that people try to drag them back. Just by looking at them you can tell that there is a lots of love, laughter and kisses in their household.
I haven’t seen video of them giving out the NAACP Archewell Foundation Digital Civil Rights Award, but I did watch 2017 TEDx-Beacon St speech by Dr. Joy Buolamwini about the use of machine learning used by nondiverse teams to build facial recognition software – interesting. Appreciated her reference to Cathy O’Neil (mathbabe) who wrote one of the most thought provoking books I’ve read in the last decade, ‘Weapons of Math Destruction.’ If you think the problems cited by Buolamwini in her 7-yr old speech have been solved, read O’Neil’s 3/12/24 post on why Google suspended its recently announced ‘Gemini image feature’ i.e. the ‘pale male’ dataset problem.
I love the concept! Love the possibilities! Love Meghan! Absolutely hate the name. It pains me to say this but I find it cringey and like an AI generated mistake. And it doesn’t flow! The Tig was such a great name. Maybe it will go by ARO? That’s better at least.
“The reason Martha, Joanna and Gwynet have crushed it is because they’ve let viewers into their most private spaces and shared their biggest secrets.”
—Uh, no. No, they haven’t.
Also: “Gwynet”?
So she can hawk crap to people? This is seriously the last thing we need…. Another celebrity to sell us overpriced garbage