Meghan Markle has described how she and Prince Harry were ‘nesting and healing’ with ‘no plan’ after controversially leaving the Royal Family five years ago.
The Duchess of Sussex stepped back as a senior working royal and started a new life in the US with her husband when their son Prince Archie was ten months old.
The former Suits actress told a summit in Washington DC yesterday that she did not have the ‘bandwidth’ at that time in 2020 to think about her ‘big picture’ dream.
The couple have since focused on a series of projects such as TV shows with Netflix, Harry’s memoir, podcasts and Meghan launching her own As Ever brand.
Also during the Fortune Most Powerful Women summit, Meghan:
- Refused to say whether her show With Love, Meghan will return for a third season;
- Praised the ‘strength of our partnership’ with Netflix amid the new first-look deal;
- Compared it to the Obamas’ deal for their production firm Higher Ground; and
- Revealed she may partner with large retailers to sell As Ever goods in stores.
Speaking about the situation for the couple when they stepped down from the Royal Family, Meghan said: ‘I think five years ago was a very different situation for all of us. Archie was so little and I had just gotten pregnant with Lili around that same time.
‘So we were nesting. Nesting and healing. Also, I don’t know if I had the bandwidth at that time to think about what the ‘big picture’ dream was. There was no plan.
‘It was just ‘let’s just get through these next couple of years’, create community, which was always so important to both of us in our new environment.’
She added that as the couple started to get into producing, through their deal with Netflix, they were ‘creating projects that we felt were compelling’.
The Duchess of Sussex speaks during the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit yesterday
Meghan speaks with Alyson Shontell, editor-in-chief and chief content officer for Fortune
Speaking at the Fortune Most Powerful Women summit, the Duchess continued: ‘Then I said ‘OK, I’ve always loved being able to share, I’ve always loved being able to cook and entertain… is there a business here?’
‘And I think it was probably most people’s assumption that if I was going to go into business it would be fashion and beauty.
‘But those five years at home – I wasn’t running around wearing beautiful outfits, I was probably in Birkenstocks and sweats like the rest of us, especially during Covid, or just barefoot at home, but I was making a lot of jam.
‘So it ended up becoming the thing that really was my passion project that I turned into a business.’
Meghan also refused to say whether her Netflix show will return for a third season as she hailed her new first-look deal with the streaming giant.
The Duchess’s show With Love, Meghan first ran on Netflix in March before its second season in August and a ‘holiday special’ on the way next month.
Meghan gives hosting tips and cooks with her celebrity friends in the show, but it has been savaged by critics amid question marks over whether it will be renewed.
At yesterday’s summit, she was asked whether With Love, Meghan will come back for a third season.
But she did not give a clear indication, saying: ‘The holiday special is coming out in November and that’s it’s a really good one.
‘So we’re able to say eight episodes for two seasons, it’s a lot of work. I also recognise how much people want content in different sizes.
Meghan at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit at Salamander Hotel in Washington DC
Meghan speaks onstage during the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit 2025 yesterday
‘So part of what we’re testing out now is: it’s amazing to be able to sit and watch a show for 30 minutes, but how can I give you a recipe in two minutes, and where can I share that with you, and how that continues to grow As Ever.
‘So, exploring all the options of what it could look like.’
Meghan then gave further detail about her show’s upcoming holiday special, saying she does ‘lots of gift wrapping techniques’.
‘You guys know I used to teach gift wrapping at Paper Source and advanced gift wrapping,’ she said.
‘So you know, all of those things that you do as an auditioning actor. That’s not the full circle I was expecting, but here we are.’
It comes amid rumours that Netflix may be pivoting away from Meghan and her husband Prince Harry.
Five years ago, the Sussexes secured a lucrative contract thought to be worth more than $100million (£74million) with the platform after quitting as senior working royals in 2020.
The couple then announced in August that they had signed a new ‘multi-year, first look deal for film and television projects’, meaning Netflix will have the first option on Harry and Meghan’s projects.
But the new terms led to speculation Netflix was distancing itself from the Sussexes after With Love, Meghan received widespread critical reviews.
Speaking at yesterday’s summit, Meghan compared her Netflix partnership to the Obamas’ own deal for their production company Higher Ground.
Meghan waves as she walks off stage alongside Alyson Shontell from Fortune yesterday
She added that the new contract offered her and Harry ‘flexibility’ and the chance to ‘shop content that might not be the right fit for Netflix’.
The Duchess said: ‘My husband and I were in an overall deal with Netflix, and then not just similar to Higher Ground in the Obamas’ deal, once that had come to its term, the extension of it, which was such a incredible sign of the strength of our partnership, was now being in a first look deal.
‘Which is also exciting, because it gives us flexibility to go to our partners first, and then at the same time, to be able to shop content that might not be the right fit for Netflix, but has a home somewhere else.
‘So for our non scripted team and our scripted team, we’ve been doing a lot of content development that can meet different rooms.’
Meghan also said she is ‘grateful’ for the partnership, adding it has been ‘incredible’ for her As Ever brand which sells flower sprinkles, pre-prepared baking kits and jam.
‘What we’ve designed is being able to have so much robust support in year one, where you have the show complementing the brand or content and commerce or meeting, and then still enabling me to have autonomy, to build out my own team and scale it in the way that I envision,’ she said.
She added the partnership means ‘the business will, of course, go on longer than a series’.
When asked whether her As Ever goods will soon be available in stores, the Duchess said she may look to strike a partnership with large retailers ‘in the next couple of years’.
‘My intention with as ever is getting back to things that are tactile, how we connect with each other. And you can only convey so much of that, obviously, in videos or in e-commerce.
The Duchess of Sussex in her Netflix cookery and lifestyle show With Love, Meghan
Meghan invites a number of celebrity friends onto the show, including model Chrissy Teigen
‘So I think my intention would be to have really bespoke, small retail collaborations, do some interesting ones as well in global territories, and then, of course, as you think about scaling, you know, it’s a brand that’s accessible, but it still has a quality that feels as though it’s masstige.
‘And so when we think about larger retailers, I think in the next couple years, that would make sense.’
Meghan also spoke about her plans to ‘leverage her significant influence to build a successful, long-lasting business empire’.
The Duchess was wearing a Gabriela Hearst blouse, earrings by Polene, and a Dior ring she had made for her son Archie’s christening.
The Sussexes previously described their latest deal with Netflix, which is also a partner in As Ever, as ‘extending their creative partnership’.
The nature of the deal means Netflix can say yes or no to film or TV projects before anyone else.
But PR and crisis expert Mark Borkowski called it a ‘downgrade,’ and suggested Netflix had ‘done a very neat job of pivoting away from two very expensive people who didn’t deliver’.
The launch of series one of With Love, Meghan in March coincided with the unveiling of her As Ever brand, with her first products including her raspberry jam, and the flower sprinkles she repeatedly promotes throughout the show.
But the eight-part series, which sees the duchess give hosting tips and cooking with her celebrity friends, was savaged by critics.
One review in the Guardian described it as a ‘gormless lifestyle filler’ and ‘so pointless it might be the Sussexes’ last TV show’, while the Telegraph gave it two stars and branded it ‘insane’ and an ‘exercise in narcissism’.
The couple’s other major media deal with Spotify ended in 2023 after one season of Meghan’s podcast Archetypes, with one of the streaming giant’s executives later branding them ‘grifters’.
Yesterday’s summit chat – titled Next Level Influence: A Conversation With Meghan, Duchess of Sussex – was hosted by Fortune’s editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell.
This year’s speakers at the annual event also included actress Selena Gomez, former US Vice-President Kamala Harris and Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser.
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