Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Reportedly Reeling From Brutal Look Into Their Post-Royal Life

A bombshell Vanity Fair piece about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's business and personal lives since leaving royal life apparently has the Duchess of Sussex absolutely reeling. For the January 17 article, VF's Anna Peele talked with dozens of mostly anonymous people who have worked with Markle, Harry, and their production company, Archewell. The picture they paint of the Sussexes' difficulties getting projects at both Netflix and Spotify off the ground is bleak. Royal correspondent Katie Nicholl summed it up to "Entertainment Tonight," saying, "They constantly seem to be on the back foot. We're hearing about shows being delayed, postponed, or canned."

In particular, Markle's Netflix lifestyle show, "With Love, Meghan," was postponed from its January 15, 2025, release date to March 5, just three days before it was initially set to start streaming. This comes after Markle's partnership with Netflix was set back in 2022 when the platform canceled her animated TV series "Pearl."

Entertainment correspondent Kinsey Schofield, host of the "To Di For" podcast, told Sky News Australia's "The Rita Panahi Show" that the formerly royal couple is "bruised" and "upset" over what's come out. She said, referring to the couple's California home, "I cannot imagine how many dishes broke over the weekend in Montecito over this Vanity Fair [article]."

In her interview on The Rita Panahi Show," Kinsey Schofield said that things are not going well for the Sussexes at the moment. So what did this exposé expose, exactly?

Sportswriter and podcaster Bill Simmons, who worked with the couple at Spotify, bluntly called Prince Harry and Meghan Markle "f***ing grifters." An unnamed ex-employee at Spotify explained the conundrum of trying to make worthwhile content with the couple: "The thing you're escaping is the reason you're compelling." The article explains that Spotify put pressure on the couple to "produce something (anything!) that people might listen to." And while Harry and Markle had what employees described as good ideas, they were always cut down by self-censorship. One said, talking about Harry, "Well, he has a million things that he has to protect, and he has the book, and they have the documentary, and they don't want to make the queen upset, and their public image..."

Vanity Fair revealed that Markle's reps had potentially explored the notion of a post-divorce book. The article states, "This book — this notion of a book, really — might center on a post-Harry divorce. Not that there was actually one in the works!" However, understandably, chatter about a divorce between Harry and Markle has only intensified after that idea became public.

The Vanity Fair article also describes Meghan Markle's approach to working with collaborators. Though one called her "a lovely, genuine person," others said she would start off that way but would become "cold and withholding" toward people once something went wrong. One source said, "She's constantly playing checkers — I'm not even going to say chess — but she's just very aware of where everybody is on her board. And when you are not in, you are to be thrown to the wolves at any given moment."

Piers Morgan, a longtime critic of Markle, went on "The Megyn Kelly Show" to specifically talk about that element of the Vanity Fair piece. He called Markle a hypocrite, adding, "Actually, she, in particular, is a nasty little bully who sends staff into therapy. Think about that for a moment."

There have long been bullying rumors floating around Markle, dating back to before she and Harry quit being full-time royals in 2020. She has pushed back against those accusations, but the Vanity Fair piece adds a new wrinkle: The Sussexes are also said to be bad neighbors. The article even refers to them, despite their recent activism after the L.A. fires, as "local villains," with Montecito neighbors saying the couple is responsible for housing price increases, bringing in out-of-towners who drive too fast, and making local restaurants harder to get into. It's not surprising that Harry and Meghan's controlling attitudes have ruined their Hollywood reputations, both professionally and personally.