Latest news with #Suits
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
How Prince Harry, Meghan Markle will fund lavish life after $150m Netflix deal ends
Speculation is mounting over how Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will fund their lavish lifestyle after their $150 million deal with Netflix was scrapped. The streaming giant will not renew their contract when it expires in September. A source at Netflix said of Meghan's efforts: 'She had everything going for her — name, platform, press — and the numbers were dismal.' Lifestyle and cookery show 'With Love, Meghan' only ranked at number 383 in Netflix's six-monthly engagement report this year, with just 5.3 million viewers across the globe. Described by one critic as an 'exercise in narcissism', it was beaten by re-runs of the first four seasons of legal drama Suits, which also starred the Duchess in her pre-royal days. Once judged by some as Britain's greatest soft power asset since Princess Diana, Meghan was filmed for her show making ladybird-shaped canapes from cherry tomatoes and mozzarella balls. 'Dull indulgence' Even The Guardian was moved to describe With Love, Meghan as 'the sort of gormless lifestyle filler that, had it been made by the BBC, would be used to bulk out episodes of Saturday Kitchen'. In truth, the show is a smash hit compared to her husband's vanity docuseries 'Polo', blasted as 'a dull indulgence about a rich person's pursuit'. In the first six months of the year the program attracted a disastrous 500,000 views globally, ranking it at number 3442 out of around 7000 shows. Re-runs of the nine-year-old cartoon 'He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe' scored similar numbers. A Netflix insider has pronounced the couple's lucrative contract 'dead', adding: 'they're just waiting for the credits to roll. 'They're letting it expire without drama. There's no appetite for anything new.' The end of what many regarded as a reliable source of vast income for the former HRHs has set off a bomb under Project Sussex and its bold ambitions. And of course it is not the Sussexes' first media deal that has gone south. Their reported $29 million podcasting deal with Spotify was terminated in June 2023, with senior Spotify executive Bill Simmons labelling the duo 'f***ing grifters'. Hosted by Meghan, the Archetypes podcast featured conversations with friends and celebrities including Serena Williams, Mariah Carey and Trevor Noah. Critics said that in the episode with Williams it took 11 minutes before the tennis legend got a word in edgeways. In 2023 Simmons said: 'I wish I had been involved in the 'Meghan and Harry leave Spotify' negotiation. 'The F***ing Grifters. That's the podcast we should have launched with them. 'I have got to get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to try and help him with a podcast idea. 'It's one of my best stories. F*** them. The grifters.' The Sussexes' undoubted TV hit was docuseries 'Harry & Meghan', released in December 2022. It became Netflix's biggest documentary debut, with more than 28 million watching in the first four days of its release. In it the couple accused the Royal Family of 'unconscious bias' and claimed Palace aides were complicit in negative media briefings against them. Podcast boss Simmons said of Harry that year: 'You live in f***ing Montecito and you just sell documentaries and podcasts and nobody cares what you have to say about anything unless you talk about the Royal Family and you just complain about them.' While the Netflix deal will lapse, Meghan's As Ever collection of wine, jam and cookies is displaying 'sold out' signs on her website. It raises the question of whether it will be her earnings that are increasingly relied upon to fund the family's expensive Hollywood lifestyle, and if so, will it be enough? PR expert Nick Ede believes that in the future the Duchess will provide the surest revenue stream, saying: 'Meghan is the best way of making money for the two of them. 'She is the breadwinner.' However, marketing experts Camille Moore and Phillip Millar accused Meghan's As Ever brand of being 'not intelligent' and 'not well executed'. Speaking on 'The Art Of The Brand' podcast this week, Mr Millar accused Meghan of trying to rinse the maximum value from her 'fame that came from 'Suits' and being a part of the Royal Family'. Mr Millar added: 'Her brand wasn't one built on substance. It was based on using people.' Meanwhile, Harry, who has two paying jobs — with sustainable tourism firm Travalyst and coaching company BetterUp — seems most passionate when he is undertaking his charitable endeavours. During a recent trip to Angola, The Duke followed in the footsteps of Princess Diana by walking through a minefield on behalf of his charity The Halo Trust. 'Life of service' Harry said in a statement: 'As a father to young children, it breaks my heart to see innocent children still living and playing next to minefields'. Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond commented: 'I think this is precisely the sort of work that Harry should do. 'It is not only a hugely worthwhile cause, but it also connects him with his mother, which is something he yearns for. 'I think he is coming to recognise that the LA celebrity world is one in which he is not especially comfortable. 'And he seems quite willing to let Meghan take the limelight over there. 'He speaks frequently about a life of service, and trips like this certainly serve a very good cause indeed.' Yet charity missions, while good for the soul, do not pay the bills. And the Sussexes' court in the Californian sunshine is not a cheap enterprise. Their home, a nine-bedroom, 16-bathroom mansion close to the Pacific in Montecito, is in America's fifth most expensive postcode. The Sussexes splashed out $US14.65 million ($A20.9 million) after the drama of Megxit in 2020, and the following year Harry said in his tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey that his father has 'literally cut me off financially'. Without the money left to him by Diana — said to be £10 million ($A20.4 million) — Harry said 'we would not have been able to do this'. Harry's finances got a boost last September when he turned 40 and a fund set up by the late Queen Mother gave him access to around £8 million ($A16.3 million). But while most people could live very well on that kind of cash, Harry and Meghan's lifestyle is not like most people's. They have more in common with the super-rich of California than your average couple. Indeed, they are said to have mortgage payments of around £350,000 ($A715,000) a year, while staffing costs come to an estimated £180,000 ($A367,000). Harry has also spent on court cases and could be in line for a £1.5 million ($A3 million) bill for his failed attempt to get the Home Office to pay for his security in the UK. Security is a very real worry for Prince Harry, who served two tours of Afghanistan. Former royal protection officer Simon Morgan estimated the Sussexes' protection costs come to at least £3 million ($A6 million) a year, adding: 'Security is not a fashion accessory, it's a need'. Eye-watering tab It leaves the Sussexes with an eye-watering tab just to meet their estimated outgoings. Last month, royal financial expert Norman Baker told Channel 5 show Meghan And Harry: Where Did The Money Go? that the Sussexes' earning potential was on the wane. The former Liberal Democrat MP said: 'They've done the big hits that they could do. 'They've done the big Spotify event, they've done the big book, there is nothing else to come, nothing else to sell apart from themselves.' Harry's autobiography Spare became the fastest-selling non-fiction book ever and has gone on to sell more than six million copies worldwide. With their Netflix deal over, perhaps Meghan will feel the time is right for her to release her own blockbuster tome to get the cash registers ringing again. Both Netflix and Harry and Meghan are yet to comment.
Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry 'haven't been axed by Netflix after brutal calculation'
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's whopping £75m deal with Netflix could apparently open the door for a new deal to be negotiated - for a very specific reason The future of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex 's £78million mega-deal with Netflix is hanging in the balance, with a PR expert claiming it has also reignited talk of trouble within their marriage. The Duchess' much-derided TV show, With Love, Meghan, has proved a spectacular flop, ranking at a lowly 383 in the platform's most-watched titles between January and June 2025. The wholesome series – which has pulled in just 5.3million viewers worldwide since it was first broadcast in March – showed Meghan cooking, gardening and hosting A-list pals. But in an embarrassing blow, it was outperformed by hundreds of lesser-known shows in the first six months of this year – including repeats of Meghan's old TV drama, Suits, in which she starred before meeting Harry. What happens next in the royals' relationship with the streaming giant is the subject of much conjecture. But PR expert Dermot McNamara believes Netflix won't sever ties with the Sussexes just yet, as they will want first dibs on that explosive first interview, should the couple ever divorce. 'The fairytale narrative has stalled, their creative output hasn't delivered consistent returns and audiences are increasingly sceptical,' Dermot tells us. 'There are only so many chances Netflix can take on them, before they're just wasting money for the sake of it. 'But Netflix knows that if cracks appear, or if the couple split, there'll be global demand for the inside story. That's when their value skyrockets again.' Dermot believes Netflix will want to be 'at the front of the queue' should the couple eventually go their separate ways. 'The sense in industry circles is that Netflix haven't cut ties with Harry and Meghan entirely because, frankly, they might be sitting on the most valuable content of all: the fallout,' he says. 'Rumours of their Netflix contract not being renewed when it runs out in September is a quiet signal that the platform is no longer banking on them as creative talent, but they're keeping the relationship warm. Why? Because if the Sussex marriage ever unravels, it would be the streaming coup of the decade. It's a brutal calculation, but this is Hollywood.' Sadly, it's not the first time that Harry, 40, and Meghan, 43, have faced rumours that their seven-year marriage is on the rocks. If anything, the rumblings that all is not well have only intensified in recent times, as the couple have increasingly pursued separate work agendas. Last December, Harry addressed the speculation head on, joking that it was 'hard to keep up with' the allegations made on social media. 'Apparently we've bought or moved houses 10, 12 times,' he said at The New York Times' DealBook Summit. 'We've apparently divorced maybe 10, 12 times as well. So it's just like, what?' Right now, however, Meghan appears to have nothing but praise for her husband and regularly speaks glowingly of their union. During her first-ever podcast interview on The Jamie Kern Lima Show in April, she was asked if she believes that she and Harry will 'be married forever'. Meghan responded, 'Yes. He's also a fox, if you haven't noticed. My husband's very, very handsome. But his heart is even more beautiful. There's something that is not to be taken for granted when you have a partner and a spouse who is just so behind you. "You know, I mean, H, that man loves me so much. And you know, look what we built. We've built a beautiful life, and we have two healthy, beautiful children [Archie and Lilibet].'
The Sun
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
I know why this is the beginning of the end for Meghan & Harry – it's the worst time for him since the dog bowl fiasco
AND that, folks, is a wrap. Amid dwindling viewing figures, the plug has been pulled on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's £100million Netflix deal - and as their clout and currency drip away, one alarming question remains. 6 Where do they go from here? You see for the Duke of Sussex, in particular, this might just be the biggest blow since he claims his brother Prince William knocked him to the floor onto a dog bowl during a 2019 confrontation over his marriage to Meghan, as recounted in his autobiography, Spare. Desperate to prove himself and justify the couple's 2020 departure from 'the firm', the much-hyped Netflix partnership commercially anchored their new life providing profits as well as purpose. BIGGEST BLOW Of course, an 18-bed Montecito mansion luxe lifestyle doesn't come cheap. But as well as the big bucks, the streaming giant was an opportunity for the Sussexes to establish themselves as major media players. The deal through their media production company, Archewell, promised content which 'informs but also gives hope' through a 'truthful and relatable lens' - but in the end only delivered the big switch-off. FAMILY MUD-SLINGING Trouble is - family mud-slinging and royal revelations aside - it seems the pair ran out of interesting things to say…. even when sat in the executive producer's chair. No, the viewing public wasn't gripped by the documentary, Polo, with its glimpse into the privileged and glamorous 'Sport of Kings' and a favourite pastime of the 40-year-old prince. In fact, only 500,000 people have watched the series in six months – which also featured a cameo appearance from the Sussexes hob-knobbing with the fellow glossy posse, including Meghan's mega mate Serena Williams. And it seems the Duchess's jam-making no longer hits the sweet spot. According to Netflix's latest data, the 43-year-old's lifestyle series, With Love, Meghan, failed to break into its top 300 programmes for the first half of 2025. Harry & Meghan peace talks motive EXPOSED - they'll beg for handouts now Netflix deal's scrapped 6 6 OK, so Meghan's reincarnation as the millennial Martha Stewart undoubtedly created a buzz initially. Many were ready to lap up the former Suits star's aspirational and artful fruit platters and floral place arrangements and a slice of the luxe homemaker 'authentic' life – albeit one filmed at a rented Santa Barbara property rather than her own estate. But inevitably a show heavy on style over substance was always destined to fizzle out – with proceedings wilting faster than the Duchess's much-used edible flower sprinkles. FIZZLED OUT Perhaps it all explains the whiff of desperation around some of the couple's recent activity - including a greater sharing of family images, despite reportedly wanting to keep their children out of the spotlight. We've seen more of son Archie and daughter Lilibet's faces on Instagram – including in a recent Father's Day tribute picture and on Lilibet's birthday last month. And what about that most unroyal candid throwback video of Meghan twerking in a hospital room to induce labour before her daughter was born back in 2021? 6 6 The late Queen would not have been amused. Not to mention Meghan's much maligned mood board posted on Instagram – that pictorial celebration of the couple's 'love story' including baby scans and romantic clinches all smacked of a thirst for attention that was on the wane. Meanwhile, signs of a more meaningful Plan B are emerging. Meredith Maines, the Duke's chief communications officer, and Liam Maguire, who runs Harry and Meghan's UK public relations team were pictured meeting with King Charles' communication secretary at the Royal Over-Seas League near Clarence House in recent weeks. Could this signal the start of renewed dialogue between father and son and some sort of return – however occasional or part time - for the exiled Prince? It's long overdue. Meghan will be staying put, firmly ensconced in California with an eye on the next project. But make no mistake, the LA sun is setting on Harry's American dream. No one can put a spin or gloss on waning public interest and a high-profile flop project. How Meghan and Harry are investing their Netflix millions HARRY and Meghan have begun investing their Netflix millions in a property portfolio. They have bought a new home in Portugal, around the corner from Harry's cousin Princess Eugenie and her husband. But the Sussexes, who have been spending an increasing amount of time apart, do not plan to live in their new pad, The Sun understands. It is not known if the property will be rented out, used for Airbnb-style holiday lets or used purely to park money. But it is seen as the first step of putting earnings from their TV and book deals into a global property empire. 'They're being smart with their money,' a source said. They pocketed £75million from streaming giant Netflix where they laid into fellow royals in a six-part series. Meanwhile Harry, who got a £15million advance for his autobiography Spare, also inherited £8million from the late Queen Mother after turning 40 in September. Palace insiders have been concerned about what will happen when the Sussexes run out of cash. They have huge overheads, forking out a fortune on security in the US and for when Harry visits the UK. And they are still paying a mortgage on the £11million Montecito mansion they bought after quitting as working royals in 2020. Insiders say the Portugal home will be part of a financial portfolio which will include more real estate. The Duke has lost face and will feel the effects acutely. This is the time for getting back to basics and being true to himself, which means a shift away from celebrity and tacky commercial work to charity work and projects with more substance. The couple's increasingly separate appearances of late indicate their working future lies in individual roles that play to their different strengths and interests. It's the end of a joint brand that assumed an adoring public would only simper and sympathise with their 'plight' against the a British monarchy. 6 Prince Harry's official visit to Angola last week – retracing his mother Princess Diana's 1997 landmine walk may have attracted some criticism for copying, but it is in fact a reminder of where his focus should be and true value lies. It's easy to forget amid the recent petulance, faults and feud that this is a man who connects well with the public, who can induce good will and - when channelled the right way - deploys soft royal power perhaps better than anyone without the stuffiness, very much like his late mother. It's why his Californian exile remains a waste of his time and talents. The Netflix flop may be a fresh low point in the Sussex story but perhaps it can signal a turning point for change and a more constructive new chapter.
Metro
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
Surfer 'pulled Malcolm-Jamal Warner's daughter to safety' as star drowned
Malcolm-Jamal Warner drowned on Sunday whilst swimming with his 8-year-old daughter in Costa Rica. The 54-year-old actor was pronounced dead while on a family holiday with his wife and daughter. Warner was best known for his role as Theo Huxtable in The Cosby Show, which ran through most of his early adulthood from 1984 to 1992. The police told ABC News that surfers saw the father and daughter struggling, so they dove straight in to help. One surfer was able to rescue Warner's daughter by pulling her on to his board and paddling her to shore. A volunteer lifeguard, Mike Geist, was able to pull Warner to the surface before dragging him to land to attempt resuscitation. Geist told AZ family: 'There were two doctors that were also here on vacation.' 'Between three of them, they were able to perform CPR for more than 30 minutes, probably more like 45 minutes, and unfortunately, it was not successful.' The surfers risked their own lives to help save the Suits alumni; however, it was reported yesterday that one injured surfer had been discharged from the hospital after receiving treatment 'without complications.' Local police said that Warner drowned on a beach on Costa Rica's Caribbean coast after getting pulled under by a strong current in Limon province, Playa Cocles. His cause of death has been ruled as accidental asphyxiation by submersion. Despite Warner's conscious effort to keep his private life out of the spotlight, he previously took to Instagram to share photos expressing how much he loved his only child. Back in a 2021 Instagram post, the 90's star referred to his young daughter as his and his wife's 'mini us.' The late actor also shared a wholesome family video of him dancing with his daughter back in 2023, captioned: 'Yoooo! Y'all remember this? Man, time flies! I was playing this song in the car over the weekend and my baby didn't even remember it.' He went on to say, 'We used to play it all the time when she was 1. Had to go back and find this post to show her. I'm happy to say that this beautiful song is now back in rotation.' More Trending Warner enjoyed a successful career and has previously starred in Malcom & Eddie (1996-2000) and Reed Between the Lines (2011-2015). The star also set up a podcast alongside friends: Weusi Baraka and Candace Kelley. Not All Hood was launched in May 2024 and saw the trio speak on the different facets of the black community. The podcast shared an emotional tribute on their Instagram earlier this week: 'Malcolm didn't just host the conversation. He is the conversation. And now it's on us to keep talking, keep building, and keep telling the stories that matter. Rest in power, Brother.' Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. View More » MORE: South Park fans convinced Donald Trump will cancel series over 'teeny tiny' manhood MORE: Last surviving main Hogan's Heroes cast member Kenneth Washington dies aged 89 MORE: 'I lead a wondrous new TV period drama – it's a blessing'
IOL News
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- IOL News
More details emerge about the moments leading up to Malcolm-Jamal Warner's drowning
Malcolm-Jamal Warner tragically died at the age of 54 after drowning on Sunday whilst on holiday in Costa Rica Malcolm-Jamal Warner was swimming with his eight-year-old daughter when he drowned. The Cosby Show star tragically died at the age of 54 after drowning on Sunday whilst on holiday in Costa Rica and it has now been revealed that he was in the water with his daughter - whose name has not been made public - when the incident occurred. Police have told ABC News that surfers attempted to save Malcolm and his daughter after the pair were spotted struggling against the current. A surfer was able to save the Suits star's daughter by returning her to safety on his surfboard whilst Malcolm was pulled back to a shore by a volunteer lifeguard and another surfer. The actor - who was best known for his role as Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show - was given 45 minutes of CPR but was pronounced dead at the official cause of death has been declared as "asphyxation by submersion". The Caribbean Guard had revealed that there was no lifeguard on duty at the time when the tragic accident took place as they had "allocated resources" elsewhere due to "recent water incidents" at two beaches nearby.
