Meghan Markle gave up her place in the royal family to become a Hollywood powerhouse.
Netflix just showed the world exactly what that gamble is worth.
And the number they released this week explains why everything she built with them is now falling apart at once.
How Meghan Markle Built Her Netflix Lifestyle Brand and With Love Meghan
Remember the pitch.
Meghan Markle walked away from Buckingham Palace, moved to California, and told anyone who would listen that she was building an empire.
Netflix handed her $100 million to prove it.
She got a lifestyle show, a brand deal, two scripted film adaptations, and a partnership for her As Ever product line – the jam, honey, tea, and flower sprinkles operation she told the world would redefine how Americans live.
Martha Stewart built a billion-dollar empire from scratch over decades.
Meghan had Netflix money, Hollywood connections, and a global platform handed to her on arrival.
It still wasn't enough.
The Number Netflix Just Released
With Love, Meghan – her cooking and entertaining show – ranked 1,217th on Netflix's own platform through the final four months of 2025.
Not 12th. Not 120th. 1,217th.
Season 2 pulled 2 million total views.
Netflix cancels shows that do far better than that.
The show is gone.
This week Netflix announced it was ending its partnership with As Ever, Meghan's lifestyle brand.
Her team is spinning the split as her choice – she wanted to go global and Netflix was being too cautious.
Brand expert Eric Schiffer wasn't buying it.
"Losing Netflix is the kiss of death to the pitch that prestige partners still see unlimited upside," Schiffer told Page Six.
He called the whole collapse "celebrity brand suicide in a cashmere apron."
Meghan Markle Netflix Movies Meet Me at the Lake and The Wedding Date Are Still Frozen
It gets worse.
In 2023, Archewell Productions announced a film adaptation of the novel Meet Me at the Lake – a project Netflix paid $3 million for the rights to produce.
Nearly three years later, that film has no director and no cast.
A second adaptation – the romantic novel The Wedding Date – was announced the same year.
Also still in development.
Their documentary Cookie Queens premiered at Sundance in January to warm reviews and a standing ovation.
Netflix passed on buying it.
No other distributor has picked it up either.
A well-placed Hollywood source put it plainly: "Three years in development for a movie like this at Netflix isn't good."
Why Meghan Markle and Netflix As Ever Brand Split Was Inevitable
Tina Brown, founding editor of The Daily Beast, said what everyone in Hollywood already knew: "The only reason any of these deals were signed was for low-down dish on the royals."
She's right.
The $100 million was never about Meghan's talent.
It was about royal secrets – the explosive 2022 docuseries Harry & Meghan that aired the family's dirty laundry on a global stage.
Once that content was spent, what was left?
A polo documentary nobody watched.
A cooking show ranked 1,217th on its own platform.
Jam at $15 a jar.
The Spotify deal collapsed first – $20 million for 12 podcast episodes before they walked away in 2023.
Netflix then downgraded the original $100 million contract to a first-look deal – the streaming industry's polite version of "we'll take your calls but we're not writing checks."
Now Netflix has pulled its investment from As Ever entirely.
IMDb's Starmeter has the final word.
Meghan has dropped to the 2,133rd spot in their rankings.
Harry – who peaked at No. 12 after his memoir Spare in January 2023 – now sits at 36,600th.
They gave up everything to build this.
The numbers are the verdict.
Sources:
- Sara Nathan, "Fresh blow for Harry and Meghan as it's revealed their movie projects are in limbo," Page Six, March 5, 2026.
- "Meghan Markle and Netflix end lifestyle brand partnership as critics say they 'got Markled enough,'" Fox News Digital, March 7, 2026.
- "Meghan Markle's Netflix debacle is the 'kiss of death' for future deals: expert," Page Six, March 7, 2026.
- "Netflix Downgrades Meghan Markle and Prince Harry to a First-Look Deal, Just Like the Obamas," The Hollywood Reporter, August 11, 2025.
- "Netflix is done with Harry and Meghan, won't renew deal: report," Puck via Mercury News, August 20, 2024.
- "Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Popularity Ranking Drops," Yahoo Entertainment, March 4, 2026.