Meghan Markle’s candid admission as she invites journalist into her Montecito kitchen for interview ahead of As ever products go on sale and sell out

The Duchess of Sussex has defended her enviable lifestyle after critics accused the royal of being “unrelatable and out of touch” in her rebrand as a domestic goddess.

Meghan’s gamble has been a success, though, with all eight products in her As ever range selling out within an hour of its launch in the early hours of Thursday morning (AEDST).

The launch came one month after the premier of With Love, Meghan which aired on Netflix and showed the duchess cooking and offering lifestyle advice on everything from children’s parties to making up care packages for a home guest.

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The show was received with mixed reviews, with many accusing Meghan of being inauthentic. One of the repeated criticisms was the decision to film the show inside a rented property instead of the home she and Prince Harry live in with their two children, Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three.

In response, Meghan invited a journalist into her Montecito kitchen for an interview coinciding with the sale of her As ever products.

But the journalist, from the New York Times, was under strict instructions.

“I was allowed in on the condition that no photographs were taken in, or of, the house, for reasons of privacy and security,” journalist Julia Moskin wrote.

She described the kitchen as having “a weathered wooden island (in addition to a marble one), a well-used Viking stove and classic accents of blue-and-white tiles”.

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“There’s an old-fashioned butler’s pantry with cabinets holding glasses and tea sets, and a modern pantry stuffed with carefully organised ingredients and snacks,” Moskin added.

There are shelves with various cookbooks by Giada De Laurentiis, Yotam Ottolenghi and Toni Tipton-Martin.

“And just outside the door, a framed picture of Harry as a boy with his mother, Princess Diana, holds pride of place,” Moskin revealed.

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The journalist raised some of the criticism directed at Meghan and the show, telling the duchess many expected it to be filmed in her actual house, while others took issue with the expensive cookware used throughout (mainly Le Creuset).

In a separate interview, in March, Meghan aid the show used another kitchen because she wanted to protect the “safe haven” of the family home.

“Our kitchen is where Mama just cooks for the family, and with a crew of 80-plus people, that’s a lot of people to have in your house,” she told People.

Moskin observed that Meghan was “clearly bothered by accusations that she is unrelatable and out of touch”.

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In response, Meghan told her: “Don’t they know my life hasn’t always been like this?”

“This is a thing, in 2025?” she said, throwing up her hands and turning to her mother.

“Everyone is coming in hot these days,” her mother, Doria Ragland, added.

Meghan appears determined to forge ahead with her new career in the lifestyle sphere, despite the criticisms.

“I need to work, and I love to work,” Meghan said.

“This is a way I can connect my home life and my work,” she added, referring to working and parenting her and Harry’s children.

Prince Harry was mentioned just once in the story, with the journalist noting he “stopped by the strawberry patch in Birkenstocks to say he was getting on a work call”.

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