I was wrong about Meghan. Hustling, humourless Meghan deserves respect

And now, time for something that puts me in danger of choking on my tomato and caprese mozzarella ladybird. Gawd. Make a mea culpa to Meghan Markle, or as she wants it known, Meghan Sussex.

Before her With Love, Meghan show premiered, the trailer alone drove me bananas. “She’s framed her return as an embrace of joy and wonder,” I said at the time. “But it’s hard not to notice the sharp pivot from feminist trailblazer to high-gloss homemaker.”

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, finesses a sponge cake with her make-up artist, Daniel Martin, in With Love, Meghan.

I asked whether doughnuts and the visuals of a super-cashed up 1950s housewife were the best tools if her goal was to be a role model for women.

Now, the same week Meghan’s show was greenlit for a second season after the first instantly became among the top 10 most watched globally on Netflix, I tied myself to the couch to watch the first two vapid episodes.

And you know what, I was wrong about one thing. And maybe others among you who are hate-watching are too.

Yes, Meghan is humourless. Yes, the cream cashmere cooking outfits, balloon-pump tips and “old friend” reunions that scream stranger danger are accidentally comedic. Yes, she threw a kids’ party for zero kids and yes, we need an intervention, stat, for her addiction to the willy-nilly sprinkling of dried flowers.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, at the SXSW conference in Austin, is busy building a media brand.Credit: Getty

The content and packaging are equally grating. The Sussex name-dropping while pretending to distance herself from palace life. Those sly “before, during, and after” references that simultaneously leverage and dismiss her royal chapter.

The presentation of basic cooking as though it’s some arcane skill requiring special enlightenment. Ick. No wonder Mindy Kaling necked 400 glasses of booze filming her episode. Certainly, getting half cut was the only way I sat through it.

But. The truth – uncomfortable, I won’t lie – is while we’re eye-rolling and texting friends about Meghan’s trad-wife cosplay (everyone loves the bit where she takes pretzels from one bag and puts them in another one) we’re missing the plot twist.

Behind that beige curtain, Meghan isn’t just playing house. She’s building an empire.

While Harry faffs around with passion projects and trying to turn on his iPhone recorder, Meghan’s doing the business that keeps the lights on in their mansion.

Sure, Harry brought the starter house money and status into the marriage. But his contributions to their golden goose Netflix deal have been duds. Meghan is the family’s ongoing economic engine, launching lifestyle brands and creating content that – love it or love to hate it – people want.

Respect: she’s simultaneously juggling the aesthetics of a Stepford wife with the glint of a Shark Tank entrepreneur.

All this is exactly what I love in a woman. It’s exactly what we applaud other women for doing, what we banged on about recently at International Women’s Day.

Shoot the lights out. Have everything. The family, career, good life. Storm the business world. Hustle, build the brand, climb the ladder. Row your own canoe.

Meghan’s checking all these boxes, albeit with insufferable earnestness.

Beneath the performative domesticity is a woman bringing home the bacon and making a global impact. Searches for truffle salt went up 3200 per cent last week at UK supermarket chain Waitrose after Meghan dusted it on popcorn as a hostess gift.

She’s speaking the language of traditional gender roles while flipping the script through her actions. She didn’t pivot from homemaker to trailblazer — she’s both, which is so hard to do, especially in the world she works in. You really go, girl.

Why are we slow to give her credit?

Maybe because we expect our power women to own it outright, not pretend to be little old me picking a vegie basket. Maybe because Meghan’s trying to sell us something while acting like she’s just “sharing”.

Or maybe because it triggers all the contradictions modern women have to navigate about ambition, success, nurturing. Do it, but not too much and make it look effortless and don’t lose yourself.

Like her or not, Meghan’s walking that tightrope. And while we’re bitching about her handmade candles, she’s out there making bank.

Now, pass the balloon pump. A pointless decorative arch needs whipping up.

Kate Halfpenny is the founder of Bad Mother Media.

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