Meghan Markle walked away from the royal family and told America she was ready to be its next great lifestyle star.
Then Netflix canceled her show and dumped her lifestyle brand in the same year.
What Martha Stewart said about it when she finally crossed paths with the duchess will not be forgotten.
Martha Stewart Questions Meghan Markle's Cooking Show Credentials
Martha Stewart, 85, earned her standing.
A catering business in 1976 grew into a cookbook, then a magazine, then a publicly traded company worth over a billion dollars by 1999.
When the interviewer turned to the subject of Meghan's cooking show, Stewart answered without hesitation.
"If you're an actress, it's hard to then transition to a princess and then from a princess into a homemaking guru on a television show," she told People. "It doesn't sort of follow. So go from there."
Stewart's position is not that celebrities have no place in the lifestyle space.
In earlier interviews, she praised Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop as a credible enterprise and pointed to Paltrow's deep knowledge of her subject matter as the reason it worked. The message to Meghan was different. Earned credibility is not negotiable.
Stewart had just shared a dinner table with Meghan at a California gathering – the same event Markle attended after returning from a trip to the United Kingdom with Prince Harry and their children.
"I had dinner with Meghan Markle the other night," Stewart said. "We were both guests at a dinner party in California."
She barely spoke to the duchess.
"I didn't talk to her really more than to say a couple words," she added.
Stewart let the interview do the rest.
https://twitter.com/fashionistaera/status/2085637042680270988
Netflix Canceled With Love Meghan and Walked Away From As Ever
Netflix beat her to it.
Harry and Meghan signed a reported $100 million deal with Netflix in 2020. With Love, Meghan was the lifestyle centerpiece of that investment. The show never delivered the audience the deal promised.
Netflix canceled With Love, Meghan after two seasons.
The show launched in March 2025 alongside As Ever, Markle's lifestyle brand built around jams, teas, and pantry goods.
Season 1 drew an audience.
Season 2, released in August 2025, failed to crack Netflix's weekly Top 10 on debut and finished the year far down the platform's most-watched rankings.
Netflix pulled its equity investment from As Ever in March 2026 – months after Meghan had publicly celebrated an expansion of the same partnership.
The streaming giant released a diplomatic statement, the kind reserved for deals companies want to exit without a fight.
Meghan's team said she was eager to move forward on her own terms.
Netflix had already made its decision.
Why the Duchess of Sussex Cannot Match Martha Stewart's Lifestyle Empire
This was not Stewart's first public message to Meghan about the lifestyle business.
In July 2025, speaking with Yahoo Lifestyle, Stewart had already told the industry where she stood: "Authenticity, to me, is everything, and to be authentic and knowledgeable about your subject matter is extremely important."
She added that she hoped Meghan "knows what she's talking about."
Stewart issued that warning in 2025. The California dinner party was where she delivered the verdict.
The lifestyle business runs on one thing Martha Stewart has and Meghan Markle does not – a reason to be believed.
Nobody had to explain why Stewart belonged in the lifestyle space. Meghan still needs that explanation.
Stewart built that standing across five decades – and rebuilt it after a 2004 federal conviction sent her to prison for five months. She came back, launched new shows, expanded her brand, and kept building. That is what the lifestyle industry calls credentials.
As Ever lost its flagship backer. The cooking show is gone.
Stewart sat across from Meghan at that California dinner party. She saved what she had to say for People.
Meghan received an Emmy nomination for With Love, Meghan – Outstanding Lifestyle Series – in 2026.
Stewart holds a $1.3 billion empire built from scratch.
When she says a career path "doesn't sort of follow," the lifestyle industry listens.
Everyone got the message. Meghan is still posting jam recipes.
Sources:
- Staff, "Martha Stewart questions Meghan Markle's homemaking credentials with blunt career assessment," Fox News, August 8, 2026.
- Staff, "Netflix Cuts Ties with Meghan Markle's Lifestyle Brand As Ever in Latest Blow to Business," MegynKelly.com, March 6, 2026.