Opinion – The bashing of Meghan Markle has gone too far

If it weren’t for the years of abuse aimed at Meghan, Paltrow’s insertion into a conversation (which ultimately amounts to nothing more than assembling beautiful cheese boards) could be put down to her status as some kind of wellness matriarch. Paltrow has been dragged into made-up feuds in the past, namely with any other woman who deigns to step on her turf.

But it’s no coincidence that Meghan is now the one in the hot seat. The criticism hurled at her over the past decade has been pointedly racist and misogynistic, highlighting our general discomfort with seeing women of colour in positions of privilege (and what institution has been more reserved for white privilege than the Royal family?).

Meghan’s entry into this realm challenges these entrenched norms, prompting defensive reactions from those who view her presence as an intrusion.​

This isn’t just about Meghan. Women of color like Yaya DaCosta and Winnie Harlow have faced similar obstacles in the fashion industry, navigating biases to achieve success.

I see Rachel Zegler has perfected the Meghan Markle death stare

These people are very sick and belong in a secure mental institution…

A real danger to society if ever I saw one! pic.twitter.com/LhA5bY1dua

— The Centerview (@CenterviewHQ) March 30, 2025

It’s no coincidence that Meghan is constantly labeled as “inauthentic,” while Paltrow, despite pushing pseudoscience in wellness, is praised as an eccentric innovator. Meghan ‘triggers people,’ as The View’s Joy Behar put it, not because she’s divisive, but because she refuses to shrink herself to fit outdated expectations.

The wellness industry – defined by a soft-lit aesthetic of wealth – has long been a white women’s domain. When Paltrow monetizes self-care and sells a $90 candle that supposedly smells like her vagina, she’s lauded as a genius marketer. When Meghan launches a brand centered around comfort and lifestyle, she’s accused of trying too hard to be relatable.

Women of color who claim elite spaces face immediate backlash. The whitewashing of wellness is nothing new, but Meghan’s treatment makes it painfully obvious. The idea that a Black woman can embody the same aspirational lifestyle that Paltrow built her empire on seems, to many, unthinkable. The same audience that rolls its eyes at Paltrow but ultimately accepts her presence in the wellness industry refuses to extend Meghan the same grace.

The media’s fixation on fabricating feuds isn’t harmless gossip; it’s a tactic to reinforce the idea that certain spaces should remain exclusive. The more we indulge these narratives, the more we enable a culture that polices who gets to be successful, happy, and unbothered.

Meghan Markle isn’t a disruptor – she’s simply existing. And that, it seems, is enough to unnerve a world still determined to police the presence of Black women in spaces they were never supposed to occupy.