Meghan Markle is Planning to Launch a Lifestyle and Wellness Brand a la Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, Royal Expert Says

(Image credit: Getty)

published 3 September 2023

For those paying attention: the @meghan Instagram account is up to 124,000 followers, despite having a.) no photos, b.) following no one, c.) having a vague profile photo, and d.) no official confirmation that it is, in fact, an account belonging to Meghan Markle and not, say, Meghan Smith from Conway, Arkansas. Many are saying that this Instagram account is one step in Meghan’s forthcoming brand relaunch, helmed by Ari Emanuel of William Morris Endeavor and one that, per The Daily Express, will resemble Goop, the successful lifestyle and wellness brand of Gwyneth Paltrow.

Gwyneth Paltrow attends Veuve Clicquot Celebrates 250th Anniversary with Solaire Exhibition on October 25, 2022 in Beverly Hills, California

For those that remember, Meghan once had her own lifestyle blog, “The Tig,” which she shuttered in 2017 as she prepared to marry Prince Harry and enter into life as a working member of the royal family. Now, The Daily Express reports that Meghan is interested in building a “broader wellness brand,” including a new blog offering tips on food, travel, fashion, the arts, design, conscious living, and wellness.

“Meghan’s been hanging out with Gwyneth Paltrow, and she’s shifted from acting into this broader wellness area,” said royal expert Tessa Dunlop. “There’s speculation about a possible revamp of Instagram, about Meghan being a brand sponsor for wellness products, perhaps.”

In Netflix’s docuseries Harry & Meghan, Meghan explained that “The Tig” was a passion project of hers: “There was fashion, tons of food, and travel—all the things that I loved,” she said. “‘The Tig’ wasn’t just a hobby. It became a really successful business.”

And, while “The Tig” was successful, it wasn’t on Goop’s level, royal author Tina Brown said. “What ‘The Tig’ lacked was Gwyneth’s sly positioning that she was in on the joke of monetizing eyeballs,” Brown said. “The wink-wink sensationalism of Goop’s ‘This Smells Like My Vagina’ candle would never have found itself onto Meghan’s earnestly tasteful ‘Tig.’”

Meghan has been hanging out with Paltrow, by the way—earlier this year she and Harry joined Paltrow, Cameron Diaz, Bumble founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd, and their husbands for sushi in Montecito.

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.

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