Someone remarked that the media outrage towards With Love, Meghan was partially because the show proves that the Duchess of Sussex still has so many friends and those friends are really loyal to her. There are no leaks or bad vibes among Meghan’s closest friends and they’re not selling her out for tabloid pennies. Instead, they’re happy to show up for her cooking show, alongside some new friends she’s made in Montecito and new friends she’s making because of WLM. You get the idea – Meghan has a wide group of friends that she can count on. Well, I have no idea what inspired this, but the Mail is trying to make it into a thing: why isn’t Markus Anderson on WLM? Markus and Meghan became besties when she lived in Canada – Markus is some kind of executive with the Soho House. What’s weird is that they’ve hung out publicly in recent years and the Mail knows that – Markus and Meghan just attended a mutual friend’s baby shower a few months ago. Markus went to a hockey game with the Sussexes last year, I think? Markus was also in Montecito during “coronation weekend” in 2023 – they went hiking near Casa de Sussex and there was a big freakout. Well, here’s another freakout:

Whatever happened to Meghan’s best friend Markus Anderson? The tall, handsome Canadian was a third wheel in the early days of her romance with Prince Harry — and he was front and center at their 2018 wedding. However, he was nowhere to be seen in the first series of her recent Netflix lifestyle show With Love, Meghan — and I understand that he won’t appear in the second series either.

Though that next instalment isn’t due to air until the autumn, it was filmed at the same time as the first, in a rented $8 million home near to the Montecito mansion Meghan shares with her husband Prince Harry and their children Archie and Lilibet.

A friend of Anderson conceded that their bond ‘may’ not be quite as tight as it once was. This is apparently is due to Anderson’s extremely busy professional life – he’s an executive at Soho House and travels ‘almost constantly.’ The private members club now has 42 outposts around the globe. The last time he and Meghan were spotted together was at a baby shower for a mutual friend in December. And before that, he hadn’t been pictured with her in years.

On top of Anderson’s busy schedule, his friend admitted there was another reason he has steered clear from Meghan’s new show, saying: ‘He just really is not comfortable in the spotlight… it’s not his thing.’

Other prominent personalities who Meghan counts among her friends, but who haven’t appeared in her show, include Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey – though, it’s hardly like either of them are afraid of the spotlight. Another missing face has been feminist-trailblazer Gloria Steinem, with whom the Duchess of Sussex is close. Steinem’s absence is less surprising, for she has built a career around fighting for equality and getting women out of the kitchen – not sprinkling edible flowers on biscuits. Perhaps a changing of the guard is afoot in Meghan’s inner circle.

[From The Daily Mail]

I’m struggling to even figure out the point of this: “yes, Meghan clearly has a lot of close friends, but why isn’t every single one of Meghan’s friends on her show??” Because… that’s weird and unreasonable to expect every friend-of-Meghan to rearrange their schedules to turn up on her show in the first two seasons? “Why isn’t Gloria Steinem on the show?!?” Because she’s Gloria Steinem?? Is this all because they’re mad that they can’t say that Meghan is friendless and unsupported? Abigail Spencer, Mindy Kaling, Tracy Robbins (wife of Paramount’s CEO), Delfina Figueras, Kelly Zafjen, Victoria Jackson all showed up. And that’s why they’re mad.

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