Duchess Meghan—formerly Meghan Markle, now Meghan Sussex—is not trying to be someone she’s not.
In a new interview with The New York Times, Meghan opens up her home and lets a reporter, for the first time, into her real life—the one she shares with husband Prince Harry and their kids, Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three.
When asked about how she has taken the backlash that has come from her Netflix show, With Love, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex is left nearly speechless. She had not heard of the criticism about her pricey Le Creuset kitchenware or about her beautiful and expansive home garden or seen the hate she has gotten online for using a rented-out space to film rather than her own home (a decision she explained in a separate interview).
“Don’t they know my life hasn’t always been like this?” she said.
Before marrying Harry, Meghan was a working actress on a semipopular show. She was divorced, in her mid-30s, and unsure where life would take her. While marrying into the British royal family did make her a household name, everything she has built since then—her and Harry’s Netflix show, her podcast Archetypes, her lifestyle brand As Ever, and her new podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder—has been completely hers.
“I need to work, and I love to work,” Meghan said, noting out that until she met Harry, she hadn’t been without a job since she was 13. With her cooking show (which has been renewed for a second season) and her lifestyle brand, she is able to be close to her kids and do what she loves. “This is a way I can connect my home life and my work,” she added.
