Meghan Markle Accused Of Abruptly Leaving Netflix Meetings Over Negative Criticism

Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, reportedly switched off her webcam during virtual meetings with Netflix whenever she received feedback she found disagreeable, according to sources cited by Variety journalist Matt Donnelly, who detailed the claim on a recent episode of Tom Sykes' podcast, The Royalist.

This revelation came after a period of mounting turbulence in the Sussexes' relationship with the streaming giant. Meghan and Prince Harry signed what was widely reported as a $100 million deal with Netflix in 2020, following their high-profile exit from the British royal family.

By last month, however, that arrangement had effectively collapsed; Meghan's lifestyle and homewares brand, As Ever, parted ways with Netflix, and her cooking series, With Love, was not renewed for a third season.

Inside Meghan Markle's Reported Netflix Working Style

Donnelly's account, drawn from multiple unnamed sources, raises questions about the partnership's internal dynamics. Speaking on The Royalist, he said, 'When Meghan would sit, especially in meetings regarding her As Ever lifestyle and homewares range, when she heard feedback she didn't like, or heard ideas that she didn't think were appropriate, she would turn her Zoom camera off to express her displeasure.'

He then quipped: 'It's certainly an interesting way to provide feedback in Hollywood.'

The remarks drew on reporting from Donnelly's 17 March exposé for Variety, which examined the Sussexes' broader effort to establish themselves within the entertainment industry in Los Angeles. By the time the piece was published, the couple's Netflix chapter was visibly drawing to a close.

The claims about Meghan's on-camera conduct come entirely from anonymous sources. Nothing has been confirmed on the record, and the allegations should be treated accordingly.

How Meghan Markle's Team Responded to the Backlash

Her lawyer, Michael J. Kump, moved quickly to dispute the characterisation. He offered an explanation that many remote-working parents will likely find entirely familiar. 'Meghan works from home, is the mother of young children aged 4 and 6, and often encounters children who enter the space unexpectedly during a meeting.'

'Independent of being a parent who works from home, Meghan is also conscious of shielding her team from the distraction of children,' Kump told Variety. 'Nearly all professionals can attest to needing to turn off the audio or camera during a virtual meeting at some point during many hours of virtual business calls.'

Turning off a camera because a young child has wandered into the room is not, in itself, a statement of displeasure. Whether that accounts for every camera-off moment in every meeting is a rather different question and one Kump did not directly address.

He also took aim at a separate claim in the Donnelly reporting that Meghan had spoken over Harry mid-sentence during conference calls. That allegation, he said, 'seems calculated to play into the misogynistic characterisation of her bossing her husband around.'

Donnelly, for his part, appeared less interested in relitigating individual anecdotes than in drawing a wider conclusion about what the Sussexes may have misjudged. 'Hollywood is a working culture. It's a business like any other,' he told The Royalist. 'There's not so much decorum. I think it's maybe what the Sussexes are used to.'

The remark carries a certain quiet weight given the circumstances. Six years after Harry and Meghan stepped back from royal duties and positioned themselves as an independent creative force, the infrastructure they built with Netflix has largely been dismantled. Whether that reflects their working style, Hollywood's notoriously compressed patience, or simply an early miscalculation about what a royal surname could actually buy in Tinseltown is, at this point, anyone's guess.