Meghan Markle Can’t Catch a Break

This week, Markle said she's not restocking her As Ever jams, and Brooke Shields called her out for being "too precious" on a 2024 panel at SXSW. 

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Meghan Markle Can’t Catch a Break

To start, let me reiterate that Jezebel is not here to tear down Meghan Markle. She seems like a kind-hearted person who tends to be a little cringe and a little too earnest. But I think the royal family treated her terribly and I’m all for her and Harry telling them to fuck off to go and build whatever kind of life they want for themselves.

That said, she either needs to fire her publicist or hire an astrologer or something. I’m convinced she has a gnarly birth chart that’s been throwing her through some insane transits for the past decade, because girl cannot seem to catch a break when it comes to public opinion.

Now, Brooke Shields is calling her out for being annoying.

In 2024, the two appeared on a panel for International Women’s Day, hosted by Katie Couric, at SXSW, and Shields recently recalled that Markle was being “too precious and serious.”

“Katie asks the first question to Meghan and she talks about how at a young age, she was already advocating for women,” Shields said on India Hicks’s podcast, per the Independent. “She starts telling a story about how when she was 11—and she keeps saying, ‘Well, when I was 11, I saw this commercial and they were talking about how washing dishes was for women. And she said, ‘I didn’t think only women wash dishes. It wasn’t fair. So I wrote to the company.’”

Markle tells this story a lot, more than a lot. I’ve heard it so many times, sometimes I forget that it wasn’t me who wrote to the dishwashing company when I was 11. However, that wasn’t Shields’ issue with it. “It was just too precious,” Shields said. “And I was like, they’re not going to want to sit here for 45 minutes and listen to anybody be precious or serious.”

So Shields shut it down. “I go, ‘Excuse me, I’m so sorry, I’ve got to interrupt you there for one minute.’ I was trying not to be rude, but I wanted to be funny because it was so serious.” She continued, “I just want to give everybody here a context as to how we’re different. When I was 11, I was playing a prostitute,” she said, referring to the controversial 1978 film, Pretty Baby. Shields said the “place went insane” and everything felt “more relaxed after that.” Fair enough, I guess.

Also, this week, on Tuesday, Markle announced she wouldn’t be restocking her As Ever—formerly known as American Riviera Orchards—products, including the infamous jams.

“So, for me at the moment, with As Ever, it was great. We planned for a year we get and then everything sells out in 45 minutes,” Markle said on her podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder, in conversation with Tina Knowles. “Yes, amazing, great news. Then what do you do? And then you say, ‘OK, we planned as best as we could. Are we going to replenish and sell out again in an hour? Or is that annoying as a customer?'”

I’m not a business person, but it seems like if you actually have demand, then you should provide the supply? Right? I don’t know! “I’m looking at it, saying ‘Just pause. That happened. Let’s wait until we are completely stable and we have everything we need,'” she concluded. So if you were waiting for a restock, I hate to be the bearer of such devastating news.

Markle added that customers “see all the flashy stuff and they see the product. But that end game… those behind-the-scenes moments, how many tears I’ve shed,” is apparently what she wants them to see? I literally have no idea what she’s talking about anymore. But since she was speaking with Mama Knowles, she also said she wonders if “one day I’ll be in business with Lili and we’ll be building something.”

Hopefully Lili inherited literally anyone else’s business sense…


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  • Happy Pride! Tim McGraw and Faith Hill‘s daughter, Gracie McGraw, came out as queer! [Just Jared]
  • Jessie J reveals she’s been diagnosed with early breast cancer. [Pop Crave]
  • Judge officially rules that Blake Lively‘s emotional distress claims against Justin Baldoni are dead, meaning she won’t have to release her medical records. [Variety]
  • Jimmy Fallon did not enjoy learning that not everyone likes you. [Entertainment Weekly]
  • Like a true Swiftie, I’m sure Travis Kelce is relieved he can finally listen to the original version of Taylor Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble.” [Rolling Stone]
  • Will Ferrell‘s Eurovision is coming to Broadway! [The Hollywood Reporter]
  • MrBeast, a YouTube billionaire, says he’s borrowing money from his mom for his wedding…[Us Weekly]
  • Carol from Friends (Jane Sibbett) talked about why she left acting to become an energy healer. [People]
  • Marisa Abela finally spoke about starring in that awful Amy Winehouse biopic. [Vanity Fair]

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