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Meghan’s polished sincerity remains opaque. She’s either a true believer in her empowerment-by-entree brand or laughing privately at the absurdity. I think it’s the former. She’s serious about the transcendental power of icing sugar.
Which brings us to what she’s served up after her hiatus. Baked goods. Not policy discussions, not candid reflections on modern womanhood. The self-proclaimed feminist dynamo and advocate for women’s empowerment has rebranded herself as a hyper-stylised trad wife.
The Duchess of Sussex has a new cooking show: With Love, Meghan.
Once she was addressing the United Nations. Now she’s leaning into her KitchenAid mixer.
Look, I love baking and hosting dinners as much as the next person. Domesticity is ace. Absolutely nothing wrong with embracing traditional domestic roles if they genuinely light you up.
But when Meghan does it, it feels performative.
She’s not just sharing that she knows how to bake. She’s curating an opulent version of it, meant for consumption, admiration and revenue. She’s framed her return as an embrace of “joy and wonder”, but it’s hard not to notice the sharp pivot from feminist trailblazer to high-gloss homemaker.
There is also beekeeping.Credit: Netflix
If the goal here is to be a role model for women, are doughnuts and the visuals of a super-cashed-up 1950s housewife really the best tools?
Meghan has every right to explore joy, to find meaning in simple pleasures and to share that with the world. But the pivot feels calculated.
The mother of two once spoke passionately about reshaping global narratives. Now she’s shaping buttercream roses.
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The privilege baked into this new brand is glaring. Meghan – in terrifyingly simple and expensive gear, in full hair and makeup, surrounded by luxury – makes serenity look easy. But the average woman juggling work calls and school pickups doesn’t have the same resources.
The underlying message seems to be that if you just paused to embrace joy, you too could radiate like this. It’s giving Gwyneth Paltrow, it’s giving Goop and it’s giving out of touch.
Maybe Meghan truly is embracing joy. Maybe this is her way of escaping the noise, reclaiming peace and sharing what makes her happy. Cool.
But when someone with her platform and influence leans so heavily into aesthetics over substance, it makes me wonder about her real motivation all along.
It feels like another perfectly frosted layer of the Sussex brand to keep us all watching, sweet and photogenic and with as much real heft as a layered sponge.
Kate Halfpenny is the founder of Bad Mother Media.
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