Meghan Markle put a positive spin on the end of her exclusive Netflix partnership last night as she compared the new first-look deal to the Obamas’ arrangement.
The Duchess of Sussex also spoke about plans for two-minute recipe videos on her As Ever brand on platforms away from Netflix, saying the deal gave her ‘flexibility’.
The former Suits actress hailed the renewed terms with the streaming giant as ‘an incredible sign of the strength of our partnership’ during an event in Washington DC – despite rumours Netflix may be pivoting away from her and Prince Harry.
But she made an apparent dig at the Royal Family as she described how she and her husband were ‘nesting and healing’ with ‘no plan’ after leaving five years ago.
Meghan and Harry secured a lucrative contract with Netflix in 2020 thought to be worth $100million (£74million) after controversially quitting as senior working royals.
In August, the couple said they had signed a new ‘multi-year, first look deal for film and television projects’, meaning Netflix will have the first option on their projects.
But the new terms led to speculation Netflix was distancing itself from the Sussexes after her lifestyle series With Love, Meghan received widespread critical reviews.
At the Fortune Most Powerful Women summit yesterday, she compared her Netflix partnership to Barack and Michelle Obama’s own deal for their firm Higher Ground.
The Duchess of Sussex speaks during the Fortune Most Powerful Women summit yesterday
Meghan speaks with Alyson Shontell, editor-in-chief and chief content officer for Fortune
Meghan compared her new Netflix partnership to former US president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle’s own deal for their production company Higher Ground
The 44-year-old former royal said the new contract offered her and Harry the chance to ‘shop content that might not be the right fit for Netflix’.
She told the audience: ‘My husband and I were in an overall deal with Netflix, and then not just similar to Higher Ground in the Obamas’ deal, once that had come to its term, the extension of it, which was such an incredible sign of the strength of our partnership, was now being in a first look deal.
‘Which is also exciting, because it gives us flexibility to go to our partners first, and then at the same time, to be able to shop content that might not be the right fit for Netflix, but has a home somewhere else.
‘So for our non scripted team and our scripted team, we’ve been doing a lot of content development that can meet different rooms.’
Since stepping down as senior royals in 2020, the Sussexes have focused on a series of projects such as TV shows with Netflix, Harry’s memoir, podcasts and Meghan launching her own As Ever brand.
Speaking about when they left the Royal Family, Meghan said: ‘I think five years ago was a very different situation for all of us. Archie was so little and I had just gotten pregnant with Lili around that same time.
‘So we were nesting. Nesting and healing. And also, I don’t know if I had the bandwidth at that time to think about what the ‘big picture’ dream was. There was no plan.
‘It was just ‘let’s just get through these next couple of years’, create community, which was always so important to both of us in our new environment.’
She added that as the couple started to get into producing, through their deal with Netflix, they were ‘creating projects that we felt were compelling’.
The Duchess continued: ‘Then I said ‘OK, I’ve always loved being able to share, I’ve always loved being able to cook and entertain… is there a business here?’
Meghan at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit at Salamander Hotel in Washington DC
Meghan speaks onstage during the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit 2025 yesterday
‘And I think it was probably most people’s assumption that if I was going to go into business it would be fashion and beauty.
‘But those five years at home – I wasn’t running around wearing beautiful outfits, I was probably in Birkenstocks and sweats like the rest of us, especially during Covid, or just barefoot at home, but I was making a lot of jam.
‘So it ended up becoming the thing that really was my passion project that I turned into a business.’
Also yesterday, Meghan refused to say whether her Netflix show will return for a third season.
The Duchess’s show With Love, Meghan first ran on Netflix in March before its second season in August and a ‘holiday special’ on the way next month.
Meghan gives hosting tips and cooks with her celebrity friends in the show, but it has been savaged by critics amid question marks over whether it will be renewed.
At the summit, she was asked whether With Love, Meghan will come back for season three. But she did not give a clear indication, saying: ‘The holiday special is coming out in November and that’s it’s a really good one.
‘So we’re able to say eight episodes for two seasons, it’s a lot of work. I also recognise how much people want content in different sizes.
‘So part of what we’re testing out now is: it’s amazing to be able to sit and watch a show for 30 minutes, but how can I give you a recipe in two minutes, and where can I share that with you, and how that continues to grow As Ever.
‘So, exploring all the options of what it could look like.’
Meghan waves as she walks off stage alongside Alyson Shontell from Fortune yesterday
Meghan then gave further detail about her show’s upcoming holiday special, saying she does ‘lots of gift wrapping techniques’.
‘You guys know I used to teach gift wrapping at Paper Source and advanced gift wrapping,’ she said.
‘So you know, all of those things that you do as an auditioning actor. That’s not the full circle I was expecting, but here we are.’
Meghan also said she is ‘grateful’ for the partnership with Netflix, adding it has been ‘incredible’ for her As Ever brand which sells flower sprinkles, pre-prepared baking kits and jam.
‘What we’ve designed is being able to have so much robust support in year one, where you have the show complementing the brand or content and commerce or meeting, and then still enabling me to have autonomy, to build out my own team and scale it in the way that I envision,’ she said.
She added the partnership means ‘the business will, of course, go on longer than a series’.
When asked whether her As Ever goods will soon be available in stores, the Duchess said she may look to strike a partnership with large retailers ‘in the next couple of years’.
‘My intention with as ever is getting back to things that are tactile, how we connect with each other. And you can only convey so much of that, obviously, in videos or in e-commerce.
‘So I think my intention would be to have really bespoke, small retail collaborations, do some interesting ones as well in global territories, and then, of course, as you think about scaling, you know, it’s a brand that’s accessible, but it still has a quality that feels as though it’s masstige.
The Duchess of Sussex in her Netflix cookery and lifestyle show With Love, Meghan
Meghan invites a number of celebrity friends onto the show, including model Chrissy Teigen
‘And so when we think about larger retailers, I think in the next couple years, that would make sense.’
Meghan also spoke about her plans to ‘leverage her significant influence to build a successful, long-lasting business empire’.
The Duchess was wearing a Gabriela Hearst blouse, earrings by Polene, and a Dior ring she had made for her son Archie’s christening.
The Sussexes previously described their latest deal with Netflix, which is also a partner in As Ever, as ‘extending their creative partnership’.
The nature of the deal means Netflix can say yes or no to film or TV projects before anyone else.
But PR and crisis expert Mark Borkowski called it a ‘downgrade,’ and suggested Netflix had ‘done a very neat job of pivoting away from two very expensive people who didn’t deliver’.
The launch of series one of With Love, Meghan in March coincided with the unveiling of her As Ever brand, with her first products including her raspberry jam, and the flower sprinkles she repeatedly promotes throughout the show.
But the eight-part series, which sees the duchess give hosting tips and cooking with her celebrity friends, was savaged by critics.
One review in the Guardian described it as a ‘gormless lifestyle filler’ and ‘so pointless it might be the Sussexes’ last TV show’, while the Telegraph gave it two stars and branded it ‘insane’ and an ‘exercise in narcissism’.
Meghan Markle leaves Kappo Masa restaurant on Madison Avenue in New York on October 11
The couple’s other major media deal with Spotify ended in 2023 after one season of Meghan’s podcast Archetypes, with one of the streaming giant’s executives later branding them ‘grifters’.
Yesterday’s summit chat – titled Next Level Influence: A Conversation With Meghan, Duchess of Sussex – was hosted by Fortune’s editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell.
The Duchess also told Ms Shontell that she flew home to California from Europe for just one day before heading to New York, because she needed to see her ‘babies’.
Meghan travelled solo to Paris for the Balenciaga show on October 4, ahead of a string of appearances last week with Harry in New York.
In Washington yesterday, Meghan said she made a 6,000-mile dash home for a brief reunion with Prince Archie, six, and Princess Lilibet, four, instead of heading straight to the Big Apple.
Ms Shontell said to the Duchess: ‘You’ve been to Europe. You were just in New York, which, congratulations, you just won a humanitarian award for your work with online safety for parents and children, and you made it home for one day to see your kids.’
Meghan laughed and replied: ‘Because I had to. We were talking about that because everyone said ‘Oh you must have gone from Paris straight to New York’.
‘I said ‘No, I need to see my babies’. So I went back to California for a day and then continued on.’
This year’s speakers at the annual event also included actress Selena Gomez, former US Vice-President Kamala Harris and Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser.
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