Netflix won’t be renewing the Sussexes’ $100million contract but may make one-off shows with them going forwards just in case they get divorced, it was claimed today.
Journalist and screenwriter Marina Hyde has said other streamers may also fight to work with the couple ‘to keep a vague hand in’ if one day Meghan and Harry split up.
‘The reality is that a lot of people are hanging around in case there’s a divorce’, she said.
Amid dreadful reviews and poor viewing figures for With Love, Meghan, Ms Hyde has said that she believes the couple have already had their main TV hit with the Meghan & Harry documentary in 2022.
But if their marriage were to dissolve, she speculated on her The Rest is Entertainment podcast with Richard Osman that streamers would be queuing up to make a series about it because it would be a ratings winner after a string of Sussex flops.
‘They [Netflix] are not going to renew. They might say we’re continuing to develop projects with them’, Ms Hyde said.
The reality is that a lot of people are hanging around in case there’s a divorce. That might be why Netflix, or whoever it might be, who’s got to deal with them, might keep a vague hand in’.
Meghan could also ‘name her price’ if she wanted to return to acting, Mr Osman said, adding: ‘It’s what she was known for. She’s good at it. Do that’.
Netflix will not be renewing their $100million deal with Meghan and Harry after her latest show struggled with poor reviews – but they may keep them on side if the worst were to happen with their relationship, it has been claimed
Marina Hyde said that Netflix may want to keep their hand in with the Sussexes in case they divorce
Her Rest is Entertainment co-host Richard Osman, the best-selling author and also the brains behind countless TV hits in the UK, also laid into Meghan’s new show – and said the format was ‘flawed’ from the start.
‘If the whole show is my friends are coming over, it is fatally flawed. You should not get past a first meeting for a TV show. If you’re saying “Oh, the whole thing is about hospitality. The whole thing is about I love to cook for people, and I love to have guests over to my house. But it is not in my house”.
‘Just from a TV producer point of view. I have completely lost interest. You might as well just be in a lab somewhere’.
Both agreed that for the couple to make major money, a return to acting for Meghan would be the way forward.
Mr Osman said: ‘Meghan is an actress. Cast her in something. This is what I advise Meghan, take a job in something. You could pretty much name your price and project for the first thing you go back into acting for. It’s what she does’.
Marina added with a laugh: ‘I would have married him [Harry]. Got the two kids, got divorced, then ran back to Hollywood to be Julia Roberts for my 40s, but she’s not followed that plan’.
In December Prince Harry used a New York media summit to challenge persistent online rumours that his marriage to Meghan Markle is on the rocks after six years.
The Duke of Sussex was one of the star guests at the annual DealBook Summit live where he let rip at ‘trolls’, insisting he feels ‘sorry’ for them because they ‘hope’ they will split up.
And Harry revealed he and wife have no plans to return to the UK – with their children at the heart of the decision – because Archie, five, and Lilibet, three can do things in America that they ‘undoubtedly wouldn’t be able to do in the UK’.
Richard Osman and Marina Hyde were both disparaging of Meghan’s new show and its format on their Rest Is Entertainment podcast
The podcasters said that Meghan could command any fee she wanted if she went back to acting
With his wife Meghan 2,500 miles away at a gala event in Los Angeles with friend Tyler Perry, Harry was asked by the event’s founder Andrew Ross Sorkin about the public’s fixation on their relationship.
‘They’re fascinated Meghan is in California right now, and you’re here. There are articles left and right about: ‘Why are you making, doing independent events? Why aren’t you doing them together?’
The Duke of Sussex then dismissed claims that he and Meghan are struggling.
‘Apparently we’ve bought or moved house 10, 12 times. We’ve apparently divorced maybe 10, 12 times as well. So it’s just like, ‘what?’,’ Harry said laughing.
‘It’s hard to keep up with, but that’s why you just sort of ignore it. The people I feel most sorry about are the trolls.
‘Their hopes are just built and built, and it’s like, “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes”, and then it doesn’t happen. So I feel sorry for them. Genuinely, I do.’
It came after yet another Netflix star has laid into Meghan Markle’s new show, claiming it is a gigantic ‘f*** you’ to the Royal Family.
Whitney Cumming, who has two hit stand-up programmes available on the streaming service, has said that With Love, Meghan is about trolling King Charles and Prince Harry’s other close relatives.
The focus on making tea and jam as well as her outfits and hair are all a ‘burn’ aimed directly at the British royals, she claims.
‘I don’t think she cares if you like the show. This has nothing to do with making a good show. It is just her subtly roasting the Royal Family. This isn’t made for us. This is made for like 30 people in that castle. That’s all she’s doing’, she said in a video.
Ms Cumming is the third Netflix star to take aim at Meghan after fellow comedian Christina Pazsitzky said the show – and the Duchess – came across as ‘highly inauthentic’, ‘fake’ and ‘phony’.
Stand-up Katherine Ryan, previously a supporter of Meghan, accused her of ‘cosying up to celebrities and acting humble’, adding: ‘She is very Hollywood – even for me – and I don’t like that in people’.
Whitney Cumming claims With Love, Meghan is packed with direct ‘burns’ aimed at Harry’s family, comparing the Duchess of Sussex to a scorned woman posting on social media just so an ex-boyfriend would notice.
‘It’s just a big f*** you to the prom court over there across the pond’, she said in a Twitter post. She added: ‘She’s just trolling them’.
Whitney Cumming has laid into Meghan Markle’s new show, claiming it is all a big ‘f*** you’ to the Royal Family
Meghan makes ‘easy tea’ that can be percolated in the sunshine. Whitney has said this is another burn aimed at the British royals
‘It is just her subtly roasting the Royal Family. This isn’t made for us. This is made for like 30 people in that castle. That’s all she’s doing’, Whitney said in a video.
Whitney has two stand-up shows available on Netflix
From the way Meghan makes tea on the show to the way she has her hair done and what she wears, it is all about subtle barbs at the royals in Britain, the comic claims.
Whitney says: ‘She’s doing the tea. She’s like: “Tea is not a big deal. You just put it outside, let it steep in the sun. It’s not fancy”.
‘Tea is like their thing over there, okay.
‘She’s like: “Tea should just be enjoyed. Like, it doesn’t even matter what temperature it is”,’ calling it a clear ‘burn’ aimed at the royals.
Whitney also claims that Meghan’s jam, which she calls ‘fruit spread’, is a competition with the King.
‘Charles makes jam. And she’s like “jam’s too sweet, it has way too much sugar. So I do preserves”.
She went on: ‘Everything she’s doing, it is not to entertain us.
‘The fact that she’s barefoot, which is like the fact that she’s making point to be barefoot. I don’t bind my feet the way they do in the Royal Family.
‘She’s wearing her hair with a tendril at the front – I don’t think you meant to have tendrils if you’re a princess’.
Meghan is hoping the royals notice what she’s doing, Whitney claims.
She says ‘We’ve all posted things at someone before. Hoping someone was going to text us back. Our crush was going to notice or post this pic so my ex-boyfriend would notice. We’ve all done that.
‘She’s just doing it with her in-laws. She’s making this show at them. It is not for us.
‘She says it’s not about perfection. Well, that is what the Royal Family is all about’.
