Since stepping down as a senior member of the British royal family in 2020, Meghan Markle has made a number of business moves with some going over better than others. She might be receiving backlash right now for her Netflix show With Love, Meghan, but someone who is very familiar backlash has her back. In a new interview with Vanity Fair, Gwyneth Paltrow defended Markle, despite not knowing her personally.
For Paltrow, her support for Markle comes down to one thing. She explained that when “there’s noise about certain women in the culture, I do have, always, a strong instinct to stand up for them."
There's certainly noise about Markle and there has been for years—ever since it was announced that the Suits actor was dating Prince Harry in 2016. Since then, there's been vitriol about everything that has to do with her—her personality, her past, her appearance, her style, her race—from both the media and the public. There's also been the couple's highly publicized decision to stop being working royals and the fallout from that. And now, their navigation of celebrity and business while living in the U.S.
In March, Markle's Netflix show about hosting debuted. It has been criticized as out of touch and inauthentic, but also defended as harmless and calming. She also just announced a food line and a podcast. Starting a lifestyle brand isn't out of the Duchess of Sussex's wheelhouse—she wrote a lifestyle blog for years before she became internationally famous—but it certainly brings to mind Paltrow's infamous brand, Goop, criticism and all.
Paltrow told Vanity Fair that she welcomes Markle into this world. "I was raised to see other women as friends, not foes," she said. "I think there’s always more than enough to go around. Everybody deserves an attempt at everything that they want to try." She added that her mother, actor Blythe Danner, taught her, "Another woman is never your competition ... what is right for you will find you."
But while Paltrow voiced support for Markle's foray into the lifestyle biz, she doesn't know her personally even though they both live in the California beach town Montecito.
"I don’t know Meghan and Harry,” Paltrow said. “I mean, I’ve met Meghan, who seems really lovely, but I don’t know her at all. Maybe I’ll try to get through their security detail and bring them a pie.”
Hey, maybe she can be one of the celebrity guests on With Love, Meghan season 2. Despite the criticism, it's already been renewed.