Meghan Markle burned through $60 million of Netflix's money selling jam.
Now the CEO who wrote that check won't take her calls without a lawyer on the line.
What happened inside Netflix over six years is worse than anyone reported.
How Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Burned Through a $60 Million Netflix Deal
Netflix signed Meghan and Prince Harry in September 2020 with the kind of fanfare reserved for genuine stars.
The promise was scripted films, unscripted documentaries, content for all ages – an entertainment empire built from a royal scandal.
What Netflix got instead was six years of blindsiding, poor communication, and a $10 million warehouse of unsold jam.
Variety – citing six well-placed insiders – reported this week that the mood inside Netflix is blunt: "We're done."
Three separate sources told the outlet that Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos is "fed up" with the pair. Two of them claim Sarandos recently said he would not get on a call with Meghan unless a lawyer was present.
Netflix called that claim "absolutely inaccurate."
Meghan's attorney Michael J. Kump called it "blatantly false" – telling Variety that Meghan texts Sarandos regularly and has visited his home.
So either Netflix's CEO needed a lawyer before talking to a client who makes jam – or Meghan's team is in full damage-control mode over a story that has serious legs.
Ted Sarandos Was Blindsided Twice Before With Love Meghan Even Aired
Netflix didn't know the much ballyhooded 2021 Oprah interview was coming.
Sources told Variety the company discovered at the last minute that the couple had sat down with Winfrey and planned to share intimate details of their royal exit on live television – details Netflix had paid to keep exclusive. The interview drew 17.1 million CBS viewers.
Then came the book.
After the Oprah fallout, Netflix sat down with the couple to discuss how any memoir might affect the docuseries rollout. Sources say Meghan gave Sarandos the impression publication was nowhere near happening. Penguin Random House announced "Spare" in July 2021 – timed directly to Netflix's rollout window for "Harry & Meghan."
Netflix scrambled to air the docuseries before the book hit shelves.
"Harry & Meghan" set a Netflix record – 81.55 million hours viewed in its first four days.
The last number that looked good.
What $60 Million Bought After the Hit
After "Harry & Meghan," the pipeline dried up.
A polo documentary drew modest engagement. Meghan's lifestyle series "With Love, Meghan" lost its audience entirely after the second run of episodes – falling out of Netflix's top 1,000 shows for the second half of 2025.
Netflix was left holding more than $10 million in As Ever inventory – tea, baking mixes, fruit spreads, and flower sprinkles the company started giving away free to employees on card tables in office hallways.
Not one scripted project in nearly six years.
At Sundance in 2024, Archewell went after the Christopher Reeve documentary "Super/Man" and "Skywalkers: A Love Story." Four sources told Variety that neither deal happened because filmmakers on the ground wanted nothing to do with Archewell.
A-list directors refused to work with the couple.
Spotify head Bill Simmons had seen it coming years earlier – calling them "f***ing grifters" in 2023 after they delivered exactly one podcast series across an entire multi-year deal.
As Ever Failed and Now Meghan Markle Has Nothing Left to Sell
Meghan and Harry had exactly one asset worth the price Netflix paid: the story of walking away from the British royal family.
Oprah got the first version in 2021. Netflix paid for the second. Then Harry put it in a book – "Spare" – and sold that too, breaking Guinness World Records for fastest-selling nonfiction in January 2023.
Variety reports Netflix executives grew exhausted watching the couple sell "repackaged versions of the same story about their exit from royal life."
The jam and flower sprinkles were supposed to be the pivot. Instead, a Newsweek investigation found a website glitch revealing warehouse inventory that Archewell had publicly claimed sold out immediately after launch.
Netflix divested from As Ever in early March 2026.
Six years. One documentary that mattered. A CEO who reportedly won't take the call without a lawyer.
Sarandos saw what Spotify saw three years ago – he just took longer to say it.
Sources:
- Matt Donnelly, "Inside Meghan and Harry's Falling Out With Netflix," Variety, March 17, 2026.
- "Netflix Out as Investor in Meghan Markle Brand As Ever," Variety, March 6, 2026.
- "Netflix Ends Meghan Markle Partnership," TMZ, March 6, 2026.
- "Meghan Markle's Netflix Partnership Full Timeline," Newsweek, March 2026.