With Love, Meghan - criticisms and genuine concern for her mental health

[Lavenderfarmcottage]

I am probably going to be flogged for posting this and chased down the dark laneways of Mumsnet as bystanders yell “Shame Shame Shame”.

I weighed in yesterday about a thread on Meghan and her new Netflix show. I made some criticisms about the trailer and certain cliche’s in the way it was produced. Hypocritical of me to be posting this but I feel guilty and have reflected. I am actually looking forward to watching it on Netflix and my criticisms were pretty minor and not exclusive to her show - it’s a common issue I have.

Meghan has struggled with mental health because of criticism. The reaction to ‘With Love… Meghan’ has been fairly brutal.

I think it would be really good if we refrained from saying anything negative about the series or Meghan Markle. That’s not the point of this thread.

I want to know if you think the criticisms have gone too far. The Princess of Wales is not on the scene and we are protective of her rightly so. That leaves Meghan as media fodder though.

Do you think it’s time Meghan and Harry were given a break ? I do. I think we’ve been far too harsh and the criticisms have gotten out of hand.

I think we also forget the cultural relevance. If we went into the homes or Gwyneth, Julia Roberts etc and I would probably feel the divide too. American culture doesn’t apologise for wealth and hollywoood is highly competitive.

Having a confident demeanour, throwing your head back Julia Roberts style when you laugh and unapologetically selling $$$ vagina products like Gwyneth Paltrow is how it over there. People talk loudly and confidently and are polished and rehearsed especially in the
Competitive world of Hollywood…

Are we all being too hard ?

@CoffeeCantata you know me now too? You’re literally spinning a narrative out of nothing.

you DONT know her. You’re going based off of one video and negative media (I googled her new show and there’s nothing positive, because the media still haven’t learnt from the multiple suicides they’ve caused by ripping someone apart repeatedly). I’m not watching it because it’s a waste of my time. I don’t really care to have an opinion of Meghan, negative or positive because it doesn’t affect my life, I have a real one thanks; and because if I come back with anything other than support for the hate you’re spewing you’ll just discount it, wasting your time too. You want to believe what you want to believe. But sure, I have an illusion. I think I’ve made it clear I’m neither a Sussex support nor am I a H&M hater but hey, you KNOW people because you have evidence based on what they directly say, right?!

To go back to the OP, Meghan must have the skin of a rhino to keep putting herself out there continuously to expose herself to worldwide ridicule. I think she must be extremely desperate sadly. Harry must know exactly what's happening as he knows what it is to be popular and in comparison he will know what Meghan is experiencing can't be explained away by "racisim" or a bit of bad press or anything. She is truly unpopular and I think they are mad to carry on with the shows/fake tours/accepting spurious awards. They should quieten down, try and make amends to both sides of the family and then try something a bit more substantial.

Once again, I'm finding it hard to relate what you say here to anything in any of my posts!

But - to answer your question: yes, I do judge people (or 'know them', if you will) by their words and actions. The sources I'm citing for Meghan's character are unmediated ones - direct from the horse's mouth - not things where others comment on her - I can make my own judgements.

Surely our words and actions are our only true possessions?

I don’t like the personal comments, eg about her feet, or her short torso, or her wrinkled clothes, I wish those would stop.

However she put her grievances in the public domain, and did so in the most despicable way. She has never retracted a word of what she said in the OW interview or on Netflix, she allowed the accusations to stand and all that flowed from that.

No, I don’t feel sorry for her, or concerned for her mental health. The remedy was always in her own hands.

She’s fulfilling her $100 million contract with Netflix, not sure what’s so desperate about that. Seems pretty substantial to me. How much did you earn last year? You must be a billionaire to sneeze at $100m.

At least she’s working, instead of Charles and Williams who are fleecing the country.

I agree. I think things are a bit desperate now. And it's because Meghan's (and Harry;s) 'brand', or products, depend hugely on their being popular, aspirational and also admirable public figures. They've lost their integrity and moral leadership because of their behaviour over the past few years. They had so much - and a global stage! And they chose to throw it all away for money and a bit of brief sensational fame by selling their relations down the river, based largely on some very dodgy allegations which they've since largely retracted.

Plus - they spout all kinds of pious stuff in their speeches, but do they follow through in practice? I don't think so. No news still on Harry's reaction to the African Parks scandal etc etc etc. They have lost all credibility.

"Racism" is the new approved sugar script for explaining the negative reviews of the Netflix trailer.

I honestly can’t be arsed with this any more, I just don’t care enough.

There are 34k comments, they can’t all be racist.

I completely agree!

But today's sugar script is that racism is driving the negativity. Hence so many posters here also pushing the racism argument that M and the BRF didn't gel just because racism.

Newsweek's Jack Royston is blaming the negativity about the Netflix trailer on misogynoir.

When people are reviewing your trailers you’re pretty much assured you’ll get good viewing figures, which will make Netflix happy.

I’m not into home aesthetic shows so it’s likely I won't watch, but even I can see will be trending #no.1 on Netflix for sure. Plus she looks very pretty.

I find it incredible how they allowed themselves to mess up so profoundly. I don't know why people think Meghan is intelligent. It's quite a thing to do to piss off an entire country (that your title and basis of your income stem from) in such a short time. So much so that you are too frightened to come back. That's all their own doing. Amazing really. Tragic.

I'm not so sure. Her podcast etc fizzled out and people won't watch something that is boring (and her chat is very dull let's face it!) and also won't watch something that adds to her viewing figures if they don't like her.

Not liking someone doesn’t stop people watching out of curiosity.

The podcast likely fizzled out because there’s not much money in it. Streaming apps are more profitable.

Interesting, I haven’t seen that article. He is usually a supporter of the Sussexes, yet even he has put into print that ironically, the Sussex Squad don’t do them any favours because of their toxicity.

There's a huge amount of money in podcasting, if you can gain and sustain a large and loyal audience.

'Archetypes' failed to do so.

I could see this show getting some curiosity views, and initially high viewing figures. But that's not likely to be sustained as there's only so much 'hate watching' people can do. If they want to watch the 'good' bits, they can get them on social media without adding to NF's viewing figures.

The podcast likely fizzled out because there’s not much money in it. Streaming apps are more profitable.

Joe Rogan's podcast is said to be worth over $250 million, with revenue from sponsors & advertisers. There's a lot of money in podcasts if there's an audience which can advertise too. If her podcast had taken off/been any good it could have been a huge money spinner.

Cross post @IcedPurple

Curiosity maybe for the first couple of episodes then fizzling out. Like the Spotify podcast. But this show looks so boring! And pointless. And really stilted and quite inauthentic. Is this what they gave a life of substance up for? Weird.

Plus I know how to make a Victoria sponge and mine looks a lot better than hers. Athough I don't have C list celebs round at my house troughing cake and saying this is "the most glamorous thing they have ever done" TBF.

But a podcast is his full time job. I don’t think that’s what Meghan wants.

But most people don’t hate her, the ‘hate watching’ cohort is a minority.

Yes, there's lots of money in podcasting if you do it right. The 'Goalhanger' podcasters are said to make at least 5 figure sums per episode.

But in order to make the big money, you have to put in the work and have something to say. I'm not sure either is true for Meghan.

Well, it was you who mentioned them.

You've said "I can see will be trending #no.1 on Netflix for sure." Can I ask who you think is the target audience who would be watching? What is it about this show that you think can attract a huge viewing audience?

I agree with you also.
I also agree that they can’t afford to throw away a $100 million dollar contract out of the window though and I think that’s why this is airing when it is. Netflix have called it, I think Meghan would have preferred to have ARO sorted and product placement to go alongside as was probably the plan (seeing the lemons, jam and dog biscuits in the trailer). Netflix have obviously decided that they don’t want to wait until this is sorted and Meghan knows that her hands are tied and needs to put out the content as and when it’s decided by the powers that be.
Time will tell if it’s enough to save the deal but it’s not a good sign that there’s been no proper build up to this release and they aren’t protecting her, if they were, the YouTube comments would have been turned off from the start.

But a podcast is his full time job. I don’t think that’s what Meghan wants.

No it isn't, he's also a comedian, MMA commentator - attending many events, also owns and runs a comedy club.