Meghan Markle’s ‘awkward Netflix Zoom calls’: Duchess would ‘disappear’ if she was ‘offended’ and talk over Harry and ‘recast his thoughts’ in meetings, insiders claim

Meghan Markle was reportedly accused by Netflix staff of ‘disappearing’ off Zoom to signal her ‘offence’ and talking over her husband in meetings, sometimes ‘to recast Prince Harry’s thoughts’ when he was mid-sentence.

Three different insiders at the streaming giant briefed Variety writer Matt Donnelly that the Duchess of Sussex vanishing for ‘long periods’ during video calls was one of her ‘odd methods of providing feedback’.

‘Later Netflix teams like the marketing department would be informed that her absence [on Zoom] was due to her being offended by something that was said’, Mr Donnelly claimed.

The Sussexes’ lawyer Michael J Kump reacted angrily to allegations put to the couple by Hollywood’s entertainment bible before it published the piece this week.

Mr Kump said that if Meghan ever left her screen it was to tend to her children as a working mother – not out of anger. Prince Harry is said to have said it is ‘categorically false’ that his wife would talk over him.

The couple’s lawyer also accused Variety of falling into ‘misogynistic characterisation of her bossing her husband around’ after writing that Meghan would ‘recast Harry‘s thoughts’ in meetings.

Contesting that his client would walk away from Zoom calls in frustration, he said in a letter to Variety that Meghan ‘works from home, is the mother of young children aged 4 and 6, and often encounters (as many parents who work from home do) children who enter the space unexpectedly during a meeting. Independent of being a parent who works from home, Meghan is also conscious of shielding her team from the distraction of children’.

Harry and Meghan have frustrated and worn out bosses at Netflix, according to insiders speaking to American showbiz bible Variety, who claimed top have spoken to sources about alleged awkward Zoom calls with the Duchess

The couple’s company, Archewell Productions, is also accused of ‘poor communication’ in dealings with Netflix and Meghan was reportedly accused of talking over Harry, which the prince denies

He added: ‘Nearly all professionals can attest to needing to turn off the audio or camera during a virtual meeting at some point during many hours of virtual business calls.’

Mr Kump also dismissed a number of other claims about Meghan’s behaviour in the piece entitled: Inside Meghan and Harry’s Falling Out With Netflix — and Why the Royal Couple Is Struggling in Hollywood.

The feature, which has made headlines around the world, also alleged she would interrupt her husband Prince Harry in meetings.

The publication stated: ‘In virtual and in person meetings with partners, she tends to talk over or recast Prince Harry’s thoughts, sometimes while he is in mid-sentence, sources say (usually preceded by a touch to the arm or thigh).’

Mr Kump said in his legal that this assertion ‘seems calculated to play into the misogynistic characterisation of her bossing her husband around’.

Prince Harry also attests this is ‘categorically false’, Variety said.

Variety’s brutal takedown of the couple claimed that the streaming giant is said to be ‘done’ with Harry and Meghan.

Hitting back yesterday Netflix’s chief content officer Bela Bajaria declared of the Variety piece: ‘I would say don’t believe whatever you read’.

The feature examined the Sussexes’ deal with the streamer, which claims to be sourced from half a dozen well-placed insiders, says the union between the two parties has been ‘far from a fairy tale’.

‘The Sussexes’ perceived pattern of selling repackaged versions of the same story about their exit from royal life has exhausted Netflix,’ the magazine says.

The article goes on to claim: ‘Their partnership may continue to taper off, and with it will Meghan and Harry’s remaining showbusiness lifeline.’

It quotes a source as saying: ‘The mood in the building is ‘We’re done.”

In a series of devastating claims, the magazine said the couple’s ‘bedside manner has ruffled feathers in meetings’ while the ‘lacklustre’ ratings for shows such as With Love, Meghan have led to serious doubts at the streamer.

The couple’s company, Archewell Productions, is also accused of ‘poor communication’ in dealings with Netflix.

There are even claims – strongly denied by both Netflix and a lawyer for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – that Netflix chief Ted Sarandos is ‘fed up with the pair’.

The Sussexes, pictured here in Vancouver ahead of the 2025 Invictus Games, insisted via a spokesman they have co-operated with Netflix throughout and dismissed many of the claims in the Variety feature as false

He is said to have remarked he would not sit for a call with Meghan ‘unless a lawyer was present on the line’.

Netflix states this is ‘absolutely inaccurate’ while lawyer Michael J Kump, acting for the Sussexes, described it in a letter to Variety as ‘blatantly false’ and claimed that Meghan speaks and texts regularly with Mr Sarandos – as well as having ‘been to his home, sans lawyers’. 

The article also says that two insiders allege Netflix, which Variety say paid around £45million for a five-year deal with the Sussexes, was ‘annoyed’ by the couple’s decision to give a tell-all interview to Oprah Winfrey in the wake of their acrimonious departure from the Royal Family. 

The company was also said to have been ‘blindsided again’ by Harry’s decision to publish his vitriolic memoir Spare, details of which were ‘downplayed’ by Meghan.

The magazine suggests executives felt both projects had an effect on their own hit-job documentary with the pair.

However, a spokesman for the Sussexes insists they co-operated with Netflix throughout.

The magazine goes on to say that, despite the success of Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan, ‘A-list talent and directors’ are ‘hesitant to work with the pair’ given their track record – and it claims several projects have been canned.

Despite the streamer’s insistence that they remain committed to the couple through a ‘first look’ deal, ‘sales agents and filmmakers on the ground’ are said to be uninterested in any Archewell Productions involvement in projects, according to four different sources, the magazine says.

The magazine says that after her second series of With Love, Meghan ‘cratered’, sources told them that ‘Netflix was losing faith in the former royals’.

It concludes: ‘After half a decade of inconsistent shows, strategic shifts, false starts and a diminished hold on the popular imagination, are the Sussexes really living the Hollywood dream they imagined?’

Netflix boss Ted Sarandos (pictured) is said to be ‘fed up with the pair’, according to the piece

The insider revelations come less than a fortnight after it emerged Netflix was parting ways with Meghan’s lifestyle brand, As Ever.

The range, which produces products like wine, tea and jams, was initially launched in April 2025 in partnership with Netflix’s Consumer Products division, to coincide with the release of With Love, Meghan.

Both the brand and the show now seem to have been dropped – although a spokesman for the Sussexes told Variety there would continue to be ‘seasonal specials’.