The Duchess of Sussex’s new Netflix series has been the talk of Tinseltown since it launched on the streaming service last week – as millions of viewers tune in to listen about Meghan’s life through food.
But as the Duchess, 43, charms her guests with stories about her childhood and younger years before marrying Prince Harry, some viewers (and indeed Meghan’s own family) have pointed out some details about her past that don’t appear to add up.
This weekend Meghan’s estranged father Thomas Markle Sr hit back at some of his daughter’s claims that she was a ‘latchkey’ child – and argued her claims she was raised on ‘TV dinners’ didn’t quite match up with how her childhood truly was.
Speaking to Hollywood writer and actress Mindy Kaling on the second episode of With Love, Meghan, the Duchess claims she spent time on her own as a child because her parents were working; a so-called ‘latchkey kid’ who is on their own after school until their parents come home.
She tells Mindy: ‘I grew up with a lot of fast food and also a lot of TV tray dinners. It feels like such a different time but that was so normal with the microwaveable kids’ meals.’
The Duchess continues: ‘I grew up with that, watching Jeopardy! and having a lot of fast food.’
But according to Mr Markle, Meghan’s description of her childhood eating habits doesn’t quite match up with his memory.
He told the Mail on Sunday: ‘We occasionally ate TV dinners, which family doesn’t?’
The Duchess of Sussex’s Netflix series With Love, Meghan, has raised some questions about Meghan’s upbringing and the stories she tells of her childhood. Pictured with Mindy Kaling
But he added: ‘I was working two jobs so money was never an issue. We would eat out at least three times a week and order in the rest of the time.’
Mr Markle also said he would personally pick Meghan up every day from school – or send a car to fetch her if he was too busy.
And the Duchess’s father, 80, is not the only person to have questioned Meghan’s backstory as told in the series – with viewers suggesting the Duchess has previously spoken very differently about her upbringing.
Meghan’s stint as a judge on US children’s TV competition, Chopped Junior, saw her giving feedback to mini kitchen maestros as they tried to impress with their culinary skills
In one clip, that has begun circulating online after the Duchess’s Netflix show aired, Meghan tells a young cooking prodigy that her meal triggers memories of childhood.
The Duchess says of the dish: ‘This dish reminded me of the kind of food that I grew up eating in California, like that real… farm to table, sort of fresh, really simple ingredients.’ She then praised the girl, telling her she’d done a ‘good job’.
Meghan’s stint on Chopped Junior as a judge (pictured) saw her describe her diet in childhood as ‘farm to table’
Meghan’s estranged father Thomas Markle Sr hit back at Meghan’s claims in her Netflix series that she was a ‘latchkey kid’
Meghan’s historic admission that she ate ‘farm-to-table’ food in California is a stark contrast to the image she projects on her Netflix series, as the child raised on TV dinners and fast food.
And in her own series, the Duchess makes reference to her time spent in the garden as a child where she first fell in love with planting – another contrast to the Roald Dahl-style childhood she portrayed by discussing her ‘latchkey kid’ upbringing.
Speaking to Korean-American chef Roy Choi, she discusses her ‘love’ of gardening, which he admits he’s ‘horrible’ at.
Meghan says: ‘They had, in our science class, a lot of time in the garden. So I was probably about 10 or 11 – we learnt composting…’
She continued: ‘I loved, as a kid, I planted this thing and would sit there patiently waiting, and then suddenly you go, ‘it’s grown and I can eat this’ and it makes you so grateful for food.’
Meghan’s memory raises another image of her as a child who was nurtured through nature and who grew up appreciating organic produce, much like the ‘farm-to-table’ upbringing she references on Chopped Junior.
However, the Duchess’s comments on her Netflix series are not the first time accounts of her childhood have been called into question.
Back in 2021, mother-of-two Meghan penned a 1,000 word letter to the Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and majority leader of the Senate, Chuck Schumer, to consider her plea for paid parental leave.
In the open letter she described how she lived on the $5 Sizzler salad as a child, in a bid to point out how her childhood was something of a financial struggle.
She wrote: ‘I grew up on the $4.99 salad bar at Sizzler – it may have cost less back then (to be honest, I can’t remember) – but what I do remember was the feeling: I knew how hard my parents worked to afford this because even at five bucks, eating out was something special, and I felt lucky.
‘And as a Girl Scout, when my troop would go to dinner for a big celebration, it was back to that same salad bar or The Old Spaghetti Factory – because that’s what those families could afford.
‘I waited tables, babysat, and piecemealed jobs together to cover odds and ends,’ Meghan wrote. ‘I worked all my life and saved when and where I could – but even that was a luxury – because usually it was about making ends meet and having enough to pay my rent and put gas in my car.’
However, critics pointed out that Meghan was raised in middle class comfort in the suburb of Woodland Hills in a home Thomas Markle, an Emmy-award winning lighting director, bought shortly before Meghan was born in 1981.
After her parents Thomas and Doria divorced when Meghan was six, they remained amicable and whatever the state of their shattered relationship now, Meghan has enjoyed a close bond with her father in the past and owed much to the money he earned in Hollywood to her world class education.
He sent her to Hollywood’s private Little Red Schoolhouse, whose old students include Elizabeth Taylor and Judy Garland, where staff feed students six different types of organic vegetables from the school garden each week.
When Meghan was nine he won $750,000 in a lottery and the money helped send Meghan to the $16,000-a-year Immaculate Heart Catholic School, one of LA’s finest.
Every day after school she would visit her father on the set of Married… with Children where he worked as a lighting director and was believed to earn $200,000-a-year.
