Figuring Out How To Feel About 'With Love, Meghan'

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Mar 19, 2025

Lilah Raptopolous, a culture journalist at the Financial Times, joins the discussion on Meghan Markle's lifestyle show, delving into its impact and viewer reception. They explore the complexities of Meghan's public image compared to Kate Middleton's, examining the roles of race, gender, and wealth in media portrayals. They critically analyze the show's production choices and authenticity in celebrity culture. A rich dialogue unfolds around navigating personal narrative amidst public scrutiny, while offering insights into the viewers' emotional connections with the content.

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ANECDOTE

AI-Generated Meghan

Anne Helen Peterson and Lilah Raptopoulos played a clip from "With Love, Meghan."
It sounded like disjointed soundbites, possibly edited from multiple interviews.

INSIGHT

Star as IP

The show's disjointed nature might be due to Netflix's "star as IP" approach.
This often leads to underdeveloped concepts, as seen with Meghan Markle's show.

ANECDOTE

Uncritical Enjoyment

Lilah's colleague's 12-year-old son enjoyed "With Love, Meghan," finding it relaxing and enjoyable.
He didn't understand the criticism, appreciating the visuals and learning how to make bath salts.

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When With Love, Meghan — the Netflix lifestyle show starring Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex — first came out, I knew the only way I wanted to even touch that discourse was by talking about the show, as a show. How does it conform to or reject our understanding of what a lifestyle program should look it? What’s Meghan’s twist? And what’s going on with the (predictably) weird way I knew people would respond to it?

Luckily, Lilah Raptopolous — cohost of one of our most popular episodes ever, on figuring out what to make in the world of infinite recipes — wanted to talk about all the same stuff. Namely: is this an aspirational show? A relatable one? Does it have to be one or other other? Why did Netflix make such weird editing choices? How do we balance a protective impulse of Meghan, given all the very real sh*t she’s endured, with an understanding that some of the decisions on this show are just odd?

Lilah, Melody, and I tried to be really thoughtful in the way that we approached this discussion — and I think you’ll hear that in episode. (In many ways, a podcast is the perfect place to have this sort of complicated, dynamic discussion). With that said: if you’re not in the mood to hear analysis of some of the show’s shortcomings, this might not be the episode for you. But if you want to sort through your own feelings (or just want to hear us sort ours!), I think this episode’s pretty great — in large part because your questions were so layered and good.

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