As Meghan Markle escalates a war of words with Martha Stewart, the former cable TV actor who aspires to Stewart’s cultural power as the queen of cooking and lifestyle influencing might want to heed some wisdom from the fictional Baltimore stick-up man Omar Little in “The Wire.”
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In a famous scene from the HBO crime series, the iconic Omar Little shoots down a couple street rivals in a gun battle and warns the survivor: “Ayo, lesson here, Bey. You come at the king, you best not miss.”
As Stewart herself has suggested, including in a recent People magazine interview, the wife of Prince Harry has not yet elevated herself in the professional homemaker space. Stewart dismissed Meghan’s efforts to establish her domestic bon fides by sharing her cooking, baking, decorating and hostessing tips on her poorly reviewed Netflix show, “With Love, Meghan.”
“If you’re an actress, it’s hard to then transition to a princess and then from a princess into a homemaking guru on a television show,” the domestic diva coolly said to People. “It doesn’t sort of follow. So go from there.”
So, according to Stewart, and in the taxonomy of Omar Little, Meghan is not yet a queen in this lifestyle space, unlike Stewart — even if the former “Suits” star can call herself the Duchess of Sussex because she married into the British royal family.
But Meghan could be sparking a new celebrity feud if she’s going to “come at” Stewart and accuse her of saying things that are simply “untrue.”
What Stewart said about Meghan’s show, which also was widely mocked, has reportedly left the duchess “shaken,” according to Reality Tea. But that’s not what made the duchess decide to hit back publicly by having an anonymous member of her team leak a statement to People and other media outlets.
Meghan’s public concerns with Stewart have to do with the Martha Stewart Living entrepreneur suggesting she overheard the duchess at a recent dinner party gossiping about her and Harry’s meeting with King Charles III during their trip to the U.K. last month.
Stewart had told People: “I had dinner with Meghan Markle the other night. We were both guests at a dinner party in California. And she had just gotten back from the palace.”
Stewart said their interaction was brief, no more than “a couple words.” But, Stewart said, “I know what she was talking about.” Stewart was implying that Meghan was talking about the short get-together she, Harry and their children, Archie and Lilibet, had with Charles at his Highgrove country estate on July 10.
But “a source” close to Meghan, who supposedly sat next to her at the dinner party, said Stewart’s “account of what happened is simply untrue.” The source told People: “Meghan didn’t talk about her European vacation other than to say the family had a great time.”
Meghan is no doubt eager to dispute any report claiming she talked openly about the July 10 meeting. The planning and details of the meeting were supposed to be kept top secret because of its highly sensitive nature.
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Harry has been estranged from his father since he and Meghan stepped down from royal duties in 2022, moved to California and began to publicly criticize the king and other royal family members, including accusing a couple family member of racism. Harry and Meghan’s attacks on the royal family have made them increasingly unpopular in the U.K., and the British public is very mixed on whether it wants Charles to welcome the Sussexes back into the royal fold — even if doing so helps the king re-establish his personal relationship with his son and see more of his grandchildren, Archie and Lilibet. For the Highgrove meeting, the parties involved reportedly agreed to release no information about what was said or if it helped to ease tensions. Buckingham Palace also specifically said no photos would be released.
It’s therefore likely that Meghan wouldn’t want Charles and his aides to think she had been blabbing about the Highgrove meeting at a dinner party. She had “a source” — or she contacted the media herself — to vehemently deny she talked about the Highgrove meeting. The source made sure to slip in a comment probably meant to assuage Stewart, even as Meghan essentially accused her of making things up.
“Meghan has always been a fan of Martha’s and enjoyed getting to meet her briefly at the dinner,” the source added.
Will Stewart be displeased to be accused of saying things that are “untrue”? Probably.
Meghan, of course, can’t be too happy about the things Stewart has been saying about her. Stewart previously said she hopes the duchess “knows what she’s talking about,” as she tries to promote herself as an engaging and informative cooking show host, the Daily Mail reported.
“Authenticity, to me, is everything, and to be authentic and knowledgeable about your subject matter is extremely important,” Stewart, “the original influencer” and homemaking guru, told Yahoo Lifestyle.
Stewart also claimed she didn’t “mind” the idea of having successors. However, cooking show fans suspect that Meghan’s idea of becoming a Stewart successor might involve borrowing heavily from the guru. Among other things they’ve noticed”: A one-pan pasta recipe that Meghan cooked on “With Love, Meghan” closely mirrored a recipe that Stewart made famous years ago, as Stewart herself pointed out on TikTok.
Meanwhile, being “authentic” has increasingly become a sore spot for Meghan — as she likes to regularly claim that being “authentic” is important to her. But royal reporter Katie Nicholl and Dan Wakeford, the former editor of People who now runs his Celebrity Intelligence newsletter, said this week on “The Royals Uncensored” YouTube channel that Meghan’s show, her As Ever lifestyle e-commerce site and her recent 45th birthday Instagram posts always feel staged, forced and “artificial.”
“Didn’t Martha Stewart come out this week and just say that she’s just not cutting it with her with her website, with trying to be this homemaking guru,” Nicholl said. “And maybe that is because it just doesn’t feel authentic? I think that’s what people want.”
“That’s Megan’s big problem is that she doesn’t really know who she is or what she wants,” Wakeford agreed. “She wants somebody else’s dream.”
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