Meghan Markle has a new Netflix cooking show — and people are already ready to hate it

Meghan Markle’s forthcoming cooking show, “With Love, Meghan,” hasn’t even debuted yet and it’s already being sliced and diced online. Scheduled to premiere Jan. 15 on Netflix, the series promises a glossy blend of culinary escapades, celebrity cameos and sunlit glimpses of The Duchess of Sussex’s life in Montecito — but the reaction to its trailer has been swift and cutting, a barrage of disdain that feels both predictable and overdetermined, as if the mere existence of the show is some kind of affront.

Meghan Markle has become the kind of figure many people love to hate. Or, perhaps more accurately, hate to love. Whatever she does seems to provoke a disproportionate response, caught in a cultural ouroboros of royal drama, racial politics and celebrity gossip. 

The trailer for “With Love, Meghan”  — a montage of postcard-perfect California landscapes, Markle’s warm narration and staged scenes of domesticity — has drawn criticism for being insipid, overly curated and tone deaf in the midst of global economic hardships. (For what it’s worth, multiple interior design publications have also already run special reports on why Markle’s all-white set kitchen — located in a mansion about two miles from the Royal couple’s private residence — is not boring). 

To be sure, it’s not as if the format itself is groundbreaking. Celebrity cooking shows have long thrived on the aspirational: Ina Garten whisking eggs in her immaculate Hamptons kitchen, Martha Stewart serenely picking herbs from her sprawling gardens. Even Gwyneth Paltrow’s wellness-lifestyle branding has leaned heavily into the fantasy of abundance.

There’s also the exhaustion factor. Food television has been shifting for years, moving away from showcasing the mastery of chefs like Jacques Pépin or Julia Child to the less polished charm of celebrities dabbling in the kitchen. Shows like “Selena + Chef” and “Luda Can’t Cook” feel like exercises in branding as much as entertainment, where culinary expertise is secondary to the sparkle of the star. By the time Markle enters the fray, it’s less a new idea and more a familiar format dressed in California sunlight.

And yet, Markle’s show isn’t just another entry into an overstuffed genre. It comes burdened with the expectations and criticisms that have dogged her since she first entered the public eye. The stakes for her seem higher, the judgment more immediate and harsh. Where other celebrity cooks are allowed to flub a recipe or lean into the ridiculousness of their fame — I think of Paris Hilton struggling to make an edible brunch alongside Kim Kardashian on “Cooking with Paris” — Markle is expected to justify her presence at the table. Why this? Why now? Why her?

One difference, of course, is that Markle isn’t white — and her most vocal detractors often seem eager to weaponize this fact, cloaking their disdain in terms like “tone deaf” or “unrelatable,” words that feel, at best, insufficient to explain the level of vitriol she attracts. For instance, Meghan McCain, former conservative host on “The View,” took to X, formerly Twitter, to slam the series and Markle for being “utterly tone deaf.”

"Now that she wants to be American again instead of British aristocracy, what she seems to forget is Americans want real, raw, uncensored,” McCain wrote. “All of this even in the trailer is highly curated, produced and out of touch. There have been 2 terror attacks in 2 days, major wars raging and Americans can't pay for groceries. We are a country in rage, uncertainty and intensity right now.

She continued: "This concept is ill advised. I would have told her to do a show helping bring fresh food to food deserts in low income neighborhoods. Do something to help people instead of your ego. This is why the world doesn't like you, nothing else. Just completely and utterly tone deaf to the moment."

Yet for all the pre-release scorn, “With Love, Meghan” could represent something rare in the genre: a space for a Black woman, still an anomaly in food television, to explore food and culture, something Chef Adrian Lipscombe explored in a post on Threads, as reported by Newsweek. 

“Let's talk about the bigger picture here — where are the Black female-led shows and roles in the food world?” Lipscombe wrote. “Representation is already so scarce, and now, a show that has the potential to spotlight food, culture, and storytelling is being torn apart before it even has a chance. This isn't just about Meghan Markle."

There is a persistent lack of diversity in food media, where white voices still dominate the landscape. Markle’s show, despite its polished trailer and inevitable criticisms, has the potential to disrupt this status quo. Whether it does remains to be seen.

What’s certain is that the conversation around the show will likely say more about its viewers than about Markle herself. Her detractors will frame her as emblematic of a shallow, performative elite; her supporters will counter with arguments about racism, misogyny and the impossible tightrope she’s forced to walk. Somewhere in the middle lies the show itself — a glossy, pleasant cooking program that may or may not find its footing amidst the noise.

Whether “With Love, Meghan” can transcend these dynamics feels less like a question of content and more like a referendum on Markle’s place in the public imagination. And that’s a burden no celebrity cameo or artfully styled avocado toast can ever quite overcome.