Meghan Markle's Bizarre Birthday Tributes Raise Eyebrows Over Seemingly 'Scripted' Praise

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex turned 44 on August 4, and like many of us, she received shoutouts from friends online. Since Meghan rejoined Instagram in early 2025, her friends have been able to tag her in posts. However, some people think that some of the birthday wishes to Meghan were just a little too similar for them to have been genuine. Here are the posts in question.

Kelly McKee Zajfen, cofounder of the non profit Alliance of Moms, called Meghan, "a force of fun, light, and so much love" in her birthday post on Instagram. Then there was Montecito fashion designer Tracy Robbins who shared photos of the two of them together on Instagram, and said, "You dance through this life with so much grace, light and love!" And Jamie Kern Lima, billionaire founder of IT Cosmetics, posted a photo with Meghan from when Meghan was on her podcast on her Instagram Stories, and she also made comments about Meghan embodying love and light.

Some social media critics think that the similarities in the post couldn't be a coincidence, thinking that perhaps Meghan or someone on her team gave people words to use. One person posted on X (formerly known as Twitter): "it's obvious she did. Same cadence and a plethora of adjectives." Another said, "everything is brand controlled."

Abigail Spencer, Meghan's long time good friend who shares the same birthday, was effusive in her praise of Meghan, calling her, among other things, "champagne in human form" on Instagram. But some had criticisms. "I'm devoted to my female friends. They're tough, funny, kind, and wise. Never have I thought or spoken of them as "living champagne" or as someone I wanted to dance with. This is ludicrous and fake," someone said via X. 

There's definitely a curated vibe that Meghan is putting out with her Netflix show "With Love, Meghan," and her Instagram posts, so we could see why she'd want to keep things consistent, positive, and on-brand. Whether or not that extended to nudging her friends to use certain language or not, we may never know for sure.

Meghan's company "As Ever" also posted in her honor on their page, saying, "Celebrating the woman behind it all. She pours her heart, vision & magic touch into every detail, and today, we raise a glass to her!" Raising a glass indeed, "As Ever," which had some hiccups in its rollout and faced some not so great reviews, released the second vintage of the Napa Valley Rosé the day after Meghan's birthday. It took less than an hour for the 2023 vintage, released on July 1, to sell out. Our guess is that the 2024 vintage will be just as well received, so happy birthday to Meghan indeed.