‘Lady, you are literally just cooking’: Meghan rebrands as hyper-stylised trad wife

The thing I still can’t quite figure out about Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, after all these years is whether she takes herself entirely seriously, or whether there’s a sly wink hidden below the endless tasteful white clothes, sun-dappled proclamations and curated aesthetics.

Is her earnest act – more Lady Bountiful than duchess in exile – for real or a fabulously acted stitch-up?

She slices veggies, she drizzles artisanal oil. Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has relaunched as an opulent trad wife.Credit: Netflix

Meghan’s return to Instagram, three years after she signalled that she would be back, gives us few clues. She broke radio silence on New Year’s Day with a short video showing her drawing “2025” in the sand as if it were the first time anyone had done it.

Then we had the piece-de-resistance a day later, a trailer for Netflix’s new eight-part cookery series called With Love, Meghan. Out on January 15, it’s her first solo venture for the streaming giant, and Meghan promises, giggling, that she’s embracing “playfulness over perfection”.

She chops veggies – incredible! – drizzles artisanal olive oil on hummus, freezes flowers in ice cubes. She talks about “surprising people with moments that let them know I was really thinking of them” and it makes you want to yell: “Lady, you are literally just cooking.”

No, no. In Meghan’s world, slicing cake and whacking together bruschetta is done as if it’s rare art, with pals standing around cooing at the skills on display: “I’ve always loved taking something pretty ordinary and elevating it.”

We hoi polloi might describe it as having people over for a feed and doing something more than a supermarket roast chook.

So many questions. Is she earnestly presenting us with her sponge cake as a transformative symbol? Or is there a private joke playing out behind the wedding-worthy floral arrangements about how easily we fall into debate over her every move?

Meghan’s polished sincerity remains opaque. She’s either a true believer in her empowerment-by-entree brand or laughing privately at the absurdity. I think it’s the former. She’s serious about the transcendental power of icing sugar.

Which brings us to what she’s served up after her hiatus. Baked goods. Not policy discussions, not candid reflections on modern womanhood. The self-proclaimed feminist dynamo and advocate for women’s empowerment has rebranded herself as a hyper-stylised trad wife.

The Duchess of Sussex has a new cooking show: With Love, Meghan.Credit:

Once she was addressing the United Nations. Now she’s leaning into her KitchenAid mixer.

Look, I love baking and hosting dinners as much as the next person. Domesticity is ace. Absolutely nothing wrong with embracing traditional domestic roles if they genuinely light you up.

But when Meghan does it, it feels performative.

She’s not just sharing that she knows how to bake. She’s curating an opulent version of it, meant for consumption, admiration and revenue. She’s framed her return as an embrace of “joy and wonder”, but it’s hard not to notice the sharp pivot from feminist trailblazer to high-gloss homemaker.

There is also beekeeping.Credit: Netflix

If the goal here is to be a role model for women, are doughnuts and the visuals of a super-cashed-up 1950s housewife really the best tools?

Meghan has every right to explore joy, to find meaning in simple pleasures and to share that with the world. But the pivot feels calculated.

The mother-of-two once spoke passionately about reshaping global narratives. Now she’s shaping buttercream roses.

The privilege baked into this new brand is glaring. Meghan – in terrifyingly simple and expensive gear, in full hair and makeup, surrounded by luxury – makes serenity look easy. But the average woman juggling work calls and school pickups doesn’t have the same resources.

The underlying message seems to be that if you just paused to embrace joy, you too could radiate like this. It’s giving Gwyneth Paltrow, it’s giving Goop and it’s giving out-of-touch.

Maybe Meghan truly is embracing joy. Maybe this is her way of escaping the noise, reclaiming peace and sharing what makes her happy. Cool.

But when someone with her platform and influence leans so heavily into aesthetics over substance, it makes me wonder about her real motivation all along.

It feels like another perfectly frosted layer of the Sussex brand to keep us all watching, sweet and photogenic and with as much real heft as a layered sponge.

Kate Halfpenny is the founder of Bad Mother Media.

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