Everyone Meghan Markle Has Been Accused Of Copying With Brand As Ever & New Netflix Show

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's lives have been drastically different since they stepped down as working royals in 2020. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have expanded their horizons, embarked on several charitable endeavors, and even created their own nonprofit, The Archewell Foundation. According to an Us Weekly source, Meghan and Harry signed a $100 million deal with Netflix in 2020 to release content through their company, Archewell Productions. And, in 2022, the royal defectors debuted on the streaming platform with the wildly successful "Harry & Meghan" docuseries. 

The royal couple subsequently put their considerable efforts behind other docuseries like "Heart of Invictus," "Live to Lead," and the critical bomb, "Polo." Then, in January 2025, the trailer for the "Suits" alum's very own lifestyle show, "With Love, Meghan," went live. The cute snippet featured several clips of Meghan gathering fresh ingredients to create mouth-watering treats and then assembling them with the likes of Mindy Kaling, Abigail Spencer, and Prince Harry himself. Netflix also released a press release enthusing that the show "reimagines the genre of lifestyle programming, blending practical how-to's and candid conversation with friends, new and old," (via ABC News). 

They also offered another sneak peek, teasing, "Meghan shares personal tips and tricks, embracing playfulness over perfection and highlights how easy it can be to create beauty, even in the unexpected." Although the lifestyle series was initially supposed to drop on January 15, its release was delayed until March 4 out of respect for the Los Angeles wildfire victims. In the meantime, though, people started hating on "With Love, Meghan," positing that it closely resembled existing shows and ripped off other celebrities' personalities. 

About three months before the  "With Love, Meghan" trailer went live, Pamela Anderson released a snippet of her own lifestyle show "Pamela's Cooking With Love." From the get-go, it was difficult to ignore the fact that the two works shared pretty similar names. So, the eerily alike intros to their respective teasers obviously didn't do Meghan any favors. While Anderson's featured the line: "I just always have wanted to take things to another level," the Duchess of Sussex's had, "I've always loved taking something pretty ordinary and elevating it." Both trailers also included near-identical clips of the two celebs harvesting the ingredients for their dishes relayed over similarly twinkly music. 

Needless to say, social media commentators caught onto the striking resemblances and immediately called Meghan out. One Redditor was baffled at the idea that she could release a supposedly blatant copy of the "Baywatch" alum's work and expect people not to notice. Another Reddit commentator speculated that the duchess may have delayed the release of her show to avoid further comparisons to Anderson's work, which aired in February. Meanwhile, critics on X, formerly known as Twitter, asserted that the so-called copy couldn't hold a candle to the "The Last Showgirl" star's show. 

One commentator argued that the presentation of Anderson's work felt far more authentic because she invited viewers into her real home, cooked regular meals, and had more genuine conversations with her loved ones. They countered, "Meghan, on the other hand, is in a rented house, using chefs as props in a heavily staged and edited presentation to look good, pretending it's all 'authentic.'"

Many X commentators also reckoned that "With Love, Meghan" may have drawn some inspiration from Emma Thynn, Marchioness of Bath's, long-standing show "Emma's House." To make their case, one user included a screenshot of the two women wearing similar dresses while posing with similar table arrangements for a high tea. Unfortunately for the Duchess of Sussex, it seems like most people once again preferred Emma's lifestyle show over hers, with one critic observing, "Emma seems more natural while Meghan often seems like she's acting from a script. I think Meghan should focus strictly on charity work." 

Emma Weymouth, Marchioness of Bath, has had a cooking program at longleat estate for 9 years! pic.twitter.com/RmPGmy6VL8

— Tumi 🌸 (@tumiyukii) January 2, 2025

Additionally, the scenes of Meghan Markle beekeeping in her lifestyle show's teaser trailer also reminded people of another important, and beloved, royal: Catherine, Princess of Wales. One critic on X pointed out that Kate Middleton was an avid beekeeper and shared a photo of her tending to the bees on her Norfolk property, sneering, "None of the things Markle is doing are particularly interesting or unconventional."

Again, several people proclaimed that Meghan's beekeeping bit felt disingenuous because the show wasn't shot in her actual home. On a similar note, an eagle-eyed observer found that the former "Suits" star was wearing a bracelet in the short clip, a mistake that real beekeepers like Emma and Catherine hadn't publicly made. And if all of that wasn't bad enough already, viewers also discovered that the ladybug appetizer featured in the video most likely came from an online recipe originally published by First for Women in 2018.

As Meghan Markle dealt with the backlash for "With Love, Meghan," we learned that her lifestyle brand, As Ever, had previously run into some legal trouble because of its name. According to court documents obtained by the Daily Mail in February 2025, the Duchess of Sussex filed court documents with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in October 2022 to be able to sell everything from clothing items like aprons to dog biscuits and jams under the As Ever umbrella. However, the application received a "partial rejection" because of the existence of Chinese clothing company ASEVER. 

"The marks are identical in sound and virtually identical in appearance and are thus confusingly similar for the purposes of determining likelihood of confusion," the USPTO explained in its rejection. However, Meghan and her legal team refused to go down without a fight, so they filed new court documents to clarify that they wouldn't sell clothes under the As Ever brand name and the USPTO ultimately accepted their trademark application. 

This was just one of the many red flags in Meghan's lifestyle brand, which was originally called American Riviera Orchard. She announced the rebrand on Instagram in February 2025, and explained why she couldn't proceed with the original name, also pointing out, "It's my neighborhood, it's a nickname for Santa Barbara, but it limited me to things that were just manufactured and grown in this area." However, Meghan argued that the new name held a very special meaning, since, "As Ever essentially means 'as it's always been.'"

The logo of Meghan Markle's As Ever features a palm tree with two hummingbirds flying around it. Meanwhile, the coat of arms of Porreres, a small town in Spain, consists of two birds hovering around a palm tree. Speaking to El País, the town's mayor, Xisca Mora, complained that the Duchess of Sussex's version was "a total copy" of their coat of arms, which has represented Porreres since 1370. However, after chatting with the city council's legal team, Mora learned that taking Meghan to court wasn't a viable option. 

"Reporting plagiarism is complicated and expensive and a small town hall like ours is not in a position to fight against the English crown," the mayor explained. However, she still urged the former actor to alter the logo out of respect for an integral and long-standing part of their local culture. And yet, in February 2025, an insider reasoned to People that the As Ever logo held a special place in Meghan's heart because it symbolized her love for Prince Harry. Notably, we have already learned the significance of each design on the logo too. 

In a 2022 chat with The Cut, the duchess recalled spotting two trees that were connected at the bottom when she and Harry saw their Los Angeles home for the first time. The prince sweetly told her: "My love, it's us." Although Harry's "Spare" was full of startling revelations, it also had a handful of endearing moments, like how Harry believed a hummingbird that visited the couple after Queen Elizabeth II's passing was a sign from the universe. 

Shortly after Meghan Markle announced that her lifestyle brand had been rebranded as As Ever, Mark Kolski, the owner of a New York-based clothing brand with the same name, confirmed on Instagram that it had no affiliation whatsoever with the Duchess of Sussex. Kolski elaborated that they had started building their brand from the ground up in 2017 and he had no intention of closing up shop following Meghan's announcement. While speaking to the New York Times shortly after, Kolski disclosed that he learned of the news through his friends and family, who blew up his phone. 

During a previous chat with the Daily Mail, the small business owner divulged that he was in talks with several lawyers to figure out how the similarities between the two brands could negatively impact his business. Thus far, though, Kolski was actually reaping the benefits of the added exposure since the controversy had driven tons of traffic to the company's social media pages. Although lawyers had advised him to remain tight-lipped on the matter, the small business owner still conceded, "It's easy to see there's confusion [between] the brands," possibly referencing the basis of trademark law. 

Meanwhile, when Kolski discussed the matter with The Sun, he admitted that he didn't own the trademark for his long-standing brand. Additionally, the small business owner was averse to the idea of a long legal battle anyway. "This new venture has the power and money of Netflix behind it," he noted. "Even if I wanted to do something, I don't think I have the behemoth of lawyers and money that are behind this."