Meghan Markle admits she doesn't 'have time to cook everyday' but will make takeaways look as 'beautiful' as possible after attracting ridicule with her food presentation on Netflix show

Daily Mail​

13-05-2025

Meghan Markle has admitted she doesn't 'have time to cook everyday' and instead makes takeaway dinners look as 'beautiful' as possible after being ridiculed for her food presentation on her Netflix lifestyle series.
The Duchess of Sussex chatted with Heather Hasson, co-founder of medical scrubs brand Figs, in the sixth instalment of her podcast Confessions of a Female Founder.
Speaking about entrepreneurs who start their own business, Meghan said: 'The whole point for me, and you'll probably speak to this too, is when you see something that is an easy solve in the everyday, that's not complicated, that's not fussy, how do you get your hands involved and change the way of thinking surrounding it so it doesn't feel daunting?'
'I see vegetables and I see takeout - because I don't have time to cook every day - and I go, "Alright, but how do I still make this flattering and beautiful and present well and something that people find appetising?"'
Hasson enthusiastically replied: 'I think when you take something so simple in your everyday life and you elevate it and you make it elegant, I think that's what makes it so special.'
Meghan previously demonstrated how to plate up Chinese takeaway food 'beautifully' as well as making banana split and fruit salad decorated with edible flowers on her Netflix show With Love, Meghan.
The royal's lifestyle series claims she was hoping to 'make magic out of elevating ordinary things'.
However, it was met with mockery from viewers when it aired in March as they poked fun at the idea of 'elevating' foods like beans on toast, pizza and hot dogs with flowers.
Meghan also talked about her experience studying theatre and international relations at Northwestern University helped her prepare to be a company founder.
She said: 'I was a theatre major and part of the programme was that you couldn't just do the acting.
'You had to do soup-to-nuts every part of what a production would entail, which I actually think is incredible training for when you're running a team, because you appreciate what the sound person does and what the lighting person does.
'But wardrobe department and sewing was part of it too, so I am comfortable with a sewing machine.'
The Duchess also talked about creating her lifestyle business As Ever.
She added: 'The types of minutia that at the onset you kind of have to be across every single granular detail. For me, I don't know how to not have love in the details.'
Described her busy life establishing her company, the Duchess said: 'As I've been building As Ever, oh let me tell you, it is just a constant state of recalibration.
'There's joy in that but we are always in motion. If you're a founder yourself, you know exactly what I mean, because we're moving at work speed, problem solving, filling gaps in real time, scratching a million tiny, tiny things off of your to do list, but not in that fun way like a lotto ticket.'
And in today's podcast, the Duchess compared her gesture to Hasson, who was inspired to transform uncomfortable and unflattering healthcare clothes, and whose firm became the first company co-founded by a female duo to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021.
Meghan said: 'And, for you, you go, hold on this is something that you're doing every day, you're wearing this uniform every day, you're eating every day.
'How do we elevate that in a way that you feel really good about what you're doing, and you feel proud about what you're wearing, and you're able to have some functionality with it? In some ways they're actually a different version of the same thing.'
Scrubs maker Figs was started in 2013 by Hasson and Trina Spear, and received financial backing in its early days from actor Will Smith.
The firm saw a jump in demand for its medical apparel, face masks and shields from 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic began.
Figs makes medical apparel aimed at combining style with comfort, sold under the tagline, 'why wear scrubs, when you can #wearFIGS?'
It sells scrubs in different styles including 'skinny scrub' trousers and 'oversized' scrub tops and those with multiple pockets in colours such as royal blue, teal and bright red and facemasks with patterns featuring cats, pandas and kisses.
The company went public in 2021 and was valued at $4.6billion, although its sales and profits slowed over the following years as lockdown restrictions were eased.
Figs was valued at about $1billion when it received a takeover offer last December from private-equity firm Story3 Capital Partners, which it later rebuffed.
Today's episode was the sixth of Meghan's Lemonada Media podcast Confessions Of A Female Founder, which has been releasing a new part each Tuesday since April 8.
This has included interviews with Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani, Highbrow Hippie co-founder Kadi Lee and IT Cosmetics co-founder Jamie Kern Lima.
In episode five last Tuesday, Meghan discussed leaving the UK for California as she interviewed Clevr Blends co-founder Hannah Mendoza who made the same move after struggling to 'fit in'.
It follows the Duchess's Netflix lifestyle series With Love, Meghan coming out in March and the launch of As Ever, which is selling flower sprinkles and herbal tea.