'I stopped liking Meghan Markle after one moment in Netflix show'

Meghan Markle makes fruit rainbow in teaser for Netflix show

TV presenter Miquita Oliver has always been a Meghan Markle fan, but one moment in the Duchess of Sussex’s new Netflix show changed that.

Chatting to pal Lily Allen on their Miss Me? podcast, Miquita revealed: “I love Meghan Markle, but I suddenly stopped liking her for a Minute.”

She explained that Meghan seemed, on her With Love, Meghan show, to be creating unrealistic expectations for other mums: “When she made the balloon arch… it was this casual approach to something quite tricky and complicated.

“I felt like if I didn’t know how to make a balloon arch as well as her, I’d probably feel like a bit of a s*** mum for that day.”

The Duchess presented an impression of her home life on the Netflix show (Image: AP)

Miquita’s podcast co-host Lily Allen commented that when it came to her own children’s parties, she would just buy a few balloons and let them bob around the room freely, which seemed to please her kids just as much as any painstakingly-constructed balloon arch.

Several critics have commented on the unrelatability of Meghan’s glossy lifestyle show, remarking that many of the tips presented are “achievable only for someone who has a certain amount of money, time or both”.

Meghan has said that when it comes to her home life: “We’re not in the pursuit of perfection. We’re in the pursuit of joy.”

Miquita and Lily discussed their own, less formal, kids' parties (Image: Getty)

But for many people it was a vision of quite unattainable perfection that was on show throughout Meghan’s Netflix lifestyle showcase. The show was also filmed on a rented multimillion-dollar estate in Montecito, a short drive from the Sussexes’ actual home.

A review in Vogue magazine echoed the comments of many viewers that the absence of Meghan’s real home – and actual family – left the show feeling a little hollow.

In her review describing the show as high on gloss but low on human connection, the magazine’s Michelle Ruiz wrote: “The Sussex family’s absence is most glaring when Meghan and Mindy Kaling craft a children’s garden party, complete with heart-shaped sandwiches, at which there are neither any children nor any specific references to Meghan’s time in the UK.”

Meghan and celebrity pal Mindy Kaling put together a lavish children's party (Image: COURTESY OF NETFLIX)

The Duchess of Sussex has since explained her reason for not using her own home for the show. She explained to Time CEO Jessica Sibley: “When people say, ‘Why didn’t you do it in your house?’ Well, I have kids coming home for their nap, and 80 people in the kitchen isn’t really the childhood memory I’d want for them to have.

“We were really fortunate to find something close by,” she added, explaining that maintaining those boundaries around her private life is “how I take care of myself”.

For those who did enjoy Meghan’s relentlessly tasteful collection of lifestyle tips, there’s some good news. “If you’re loving season one, just wait until you see the fun we cooked up on season 2,” the duchess recently teased on Instagram.