Meghan Markle's Biggest Flops Of 2025 Further Damaged Her Soured Reputation

Plenty of us feel like 2025 was a major flop of a year. If this sounds like you, then maybe you can find a little comfort in the fact that being a royal didn't stop some people from having a bit of a dud year, too. Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, seemingly aimed to kick off a new era this year. Between her brand As Ever and her Netflix series "With Love, Meghan," she was busy with her big rebrand throughout 2025. Yet, Meghan's new era may not be going exactly as she intended. 

It's clear that Meghan wants to be viewed a certain way, and that way may be changing. These days, she is moving toward the lifestyle space, and she seemingly wants to be thought of as a lifestyle expert. Yet, as is often the case for Meghan, the world doesn't seem to be buying what she's selling. She received quite a bit of backlash over the course of 2025. And, we have a feeling she won't look back on this year as a time that helped her struggling reputation.

Meghan Markle's lifestyle brand As Ever was clearly a major focus for her in 2025. The brand's official Instagram account calls it "a curated collection crafted to elevate your everyday and inspire moments of joy." Yet, behind the scenes, it seems that the brand isn't quite as full of joy as Meghan wants to claim it is. In August, an insider described the brand as "a disaster" while speaking to journalist Rob Shuter, per Substack. The source said that As Ever had "no leadership, no direction, and no money."

According to the source, vendors have been stiffed by the brand, which "blew millions on PR without securing supply chains." Another source noted that the brand may already be going under, claiming, "This isn't just rocky. It's already sinking." As if this weren't enough evidence that Meghan's clear aspirations of becoming a lifestyle expert may not be turning out as she hoped, she also got dissed by one of the most famous lifestyle experts there is. Martha Stewart made an icy jab at Meghan's foray into the lifestyle space, proving that Meghan may not be the next Martha, after all.

Amidst a busy year, one of the things that brought Meghan Markle the most press in 2025 was her Netflix cooking show "With Love, Meghan." Unfortunately for her, there were plenty of moments in the show that rubbed people the wrong way, and as such, this venture definitely provided fodder for the haters. The first season premiered in March and earned just a 38% on Rotten Tomatoes. The second season hit Netflix just five months later with an even lower Tomatometer score of just 17%. While the first season just barely made it into the Netflix top ten during its first week of streaming, the second season didn't make it into the top ten at all.

Low ratings for "With Love, Meghan" don't just affect the future of the show — they also affect As Ever. The show was supposed to advertise As Ever products, which it failed to do successfully. Netflix was met with even more disappointment, since the streaming platform is an As Ever shareholder. "The viewership is down, people don't really care about 'With Love,' there's some fans who will always be appreciative of it," brand and culture expert Nick Ede told Newsweek, adding, "For Netflix, the headache here is that, is this going to convert into sales for their product, are they actually going to make money from this?" So, overall, it seems that despite the whole world hearing about Meghan's cooking show, all press may not actually be good press.

2025 was the first year Meghan Markle attended Paris Fashion Week. And, it's safe to assume that this trip didn't go exactly as she hoped. More than a few things went wrong for Meghan at Paris Fashion Week, and the result was quite a bit of bad press. She ignited a brutal internet war among royal watchers when she shared a video of herself relaxing in a limo on her Instagram Story. Some eagle-eyed royal fans noticed that the video was taken near where Princess Diana was killed in a car accident decades earlier, causing some critics to assert that the post was in poor taste.

Her Instagram Story wasn't the only thing she did at Paris Fashion Week that sparked backlash. Meghan received flak for attending the controversial brand Balenciaga's show. While there, she was caught on camera appearing to giggle at a model who tripped while walking down the runway. Her reaction had the "mean girl" accusations rolling in. And, while plenty of folks online weren't impressed by Meghan seemingly laughing at one model's walk, there were also plenty of people laughing at her own walk. A video of Meghan strutting her stuff outside the fashion show had everyone saying the same shady thing: people thought her awkward walk was a failed attempt to look like she is runway model material.

Meghan Markle's business ventures have struggled a bit in 2025. And, as is usually true for her, she took a lot of heat from the public. Interestingly, though, it didn't help matters when Meghan opened up to fans and let them see what she's really like behind the scenes. In June, Meghan did a Q&A interview that had critics putting her on blast for being phony. In preparation for her appearance on the "Aspire with Emma Grede" podcast, Meghan did a Q&A that got no shortage of hate on Instagram. She answered business-related questions, and there was basically no part of her answers that didn't get picked apart in the comment section.

"What is her career?" one commenter asked. "What does she know about business?" echoed another. "You created something meaningful? Jam?" one joked. One commenter noted what seems to be many folks' problem with Meghan: "So phony." Suffice it to say, this Q&A basically proved that most commenters don't really want to go to Meghan for business advice. And, considering how her business ventures went in 2025, maybe they're onto something.