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But the audience simply did not show up.
Viewers ignored the show entirely
Netflix’s own engagement report revealed just how badly the series performed. With Love, Meghan ranked 383rd among all Netflix titles during the first half of 2025, pulling in only 5.3 million global views. It never entered the Top 10 list in the United States.
Season two, released in August, leaned even harder into Meghan’s personal life, including stories about her marriage to Prince Harry and their children. That strategy failed to generate interest.
Viewers had already tuned out.
Critics delivered brutal verdicts
From the moment it premiered, critics savaged the show. The Times dismissed it as “unfathomable” with “four pointless crafts, three random friends, two unseen kids, one English prince.”
Rotten Tomatoes delivered a devastating 23 percent approval rating.
One reviewer described the program as “gormless lifestyle filler” filled with “tangible desperation.”
Even inside Netflix, executives reportedly saw the writing on the wall.
“One executive literally called it ‘the farewell disguised as a holiday treat,’” a source told Rob Shuter’s Naughty But Nice. “Everyone is smiling on the outside — but inside, they know this is the end.”
Meghan signals retreat
By October, Meghan herself appeared to acknowledge the failure. Speaking at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit, she openly admitted the show drained her.
“Eight episodes for two seasons — it’s a lot of work,” she said.
Industry observers saw that comment as a soft exit.
Focus shifts to struggling lifestyle brand
With the Netflix door closing, Meghan is now shifting her attention to her lifestyle brand As Ever. Sources say she plans to continue posting cooking and crafting content on social media but in shorter, more controlled formats.
“People will see similar cooking and crafting on Meghan’s socials for the brand, but more bite-sized,” one insider explained.
As Ever launched in March 2025 selling jam, honey, candles, wine, and other curated goods. But recent revelations suggest the brand may be in serious trouble.
A website glitch exposed staggering amounts of unsold inventory including 80,000 packages of edible flowers, 30,000 jars of honey, 90,000 candles, and 70,000 bottles of wine.
Social media users were quick to mock the situation.
“I still can’t believe she left the Royal Family to become a drop shipper,” one person wrote.
Despite the numbers, Meghan’s team insists products are “flying, literally off the shelf.”
More projects planned despite setbacks
Meghan reportedly plans to release a cookbook in 2026 featuring recipes from the show alongside personal favorites. An insider claimed there will be “more wine and definitely more homeware too,” though Meghan will “ease off selling her biscuit and crepe kits.”
Whether consumers will bite remains uncertain.
A broader trend of celebrity failures
The downfall of With Love, Meghan fits into a wider industry collapse. Lifestyle and reality programming struggled across streaming platforms throughout 2025.
Netflix alone canceled 30 shows last year, including 10 reality series. Nearly every returning English language Netflix production lost viewers.
Meghan’s show never built the loyalty required to survive.
Audiences rejected the illusion
Attempting to recreate the Martha Stewart formula, Meghan instead came across as disconnected from everyday Americans. The mansion backdrop, celebrity praise, and staged authenticity felt hollow.
One viral clip showed Meghan transferring pretzels from one labeled bag into another before labeling it again.
“I’m so glad Meghan Markle has a new show on Netflix where I can watch her take pretzels out of a labelled bag and put them into a new bag … then label it,” one viewer wrote on X.
That moment captured everything audiences disliked.
As inflation squeezes households nationwide, viewers had no interest in watching a millionaire Duchess perform domestic theater inside a borrowed mansion.
Metacritic ranked With Love, Meghan among the worst new TV shows of 2025.
“There isn’t enough here to justify the running time, nor its star’s belief we’ll keep watching,” Variety’s Daniel D’Addario wrote. “The show plays out like a forced march, one in which Meghan’s guests must, as the price of getting to share an afternoon in a made-for-TV kitchen with her, praise her first.”
Hollywood dreams fading fast
Meghan and Prince Harry’s Netflix partnership once looked unstoppable. Their 2022 documentary Harry & Meghan drew 23.4 million views in its first four days.
But lightning has not struck twice.
With With Love, Meghan canceled and As Ever reportedly drowning in unsold inventory, the couple’s California dream looks increasingly shaky.
Meghan left the Royal Family seeking independence, influence, and stardom.
Instead, she is now staring at canceled shows, disappointed viewers, and warehouses full of jam.
