Another day, another controversy over the originality of Meghan Markle’s creative empire. Markle, who has championed authenticity and originality as the cornerstones of her personal brand, is under fire from a well-established British children’s author who claims Markle’s since-cancelled animated Netflix project, Pearl, bore “striking similarities” to her own work, Pearl Power.
In July 2021, Markle announced the arrival of Pearl, an animated series for Netflix. The show, described as centering on a brave and gutsy young girl named Pearl, follows its heroine as she “steps into her power” and learns from influential women throughout history. Elton John’s husband, David Furnish, was even attached as executive producer. It was poised to be Markle’s first major solo creative project post-royal life—and a bold statement of intent.
But just as quickly as it was announced, Pearl mysteriously vanished. The show was scrapped, scrubbed from the Archewell website, and never publicly spoken of again. At the time, the official line was that Netflix was “moving away from animation.”
Now, however, a very different explanation is emerging after Mel Elliott, a respected children’s author from the United Kingdom, said she had objected to Netflix about the project. Elliot has published a series of books entitled Pearl Power since 2014. Elliott’s books follow a similarly plucky British girl named Pearl who also learns valuable life lessons from female role models in history. Elliott had not only published three successful books in the Pearl Power series but had also been in discussions to adapt it into a TV show back in 2019—with tennis icon Billie Jean King interested in joining the project, according to a report in the Daily Mail.
When Markle’s Pearl was announced in 2021, alarm bells rang for Elliott. The parallels between the two works—both in name and concept—were hard to miss. Through her legal team, she sent a formal letter to Markle’s camp alleging that there were “too many and too striking” similarities between the Duchess’s proposed show and her own work to be coincidental. She says she even followed up with personal letters to Markle’s team, not to stop the show, but to ask for acknowledgment and a possible collaboration.
In return, she got radio silence, then ten weeks after her lawyers’ letter was sent, Pearl was pulled from the Netflix slate, never to be mentioned again.
“I can’t know if anyone in her team has seen it and been inspired by it,” Elliott told the Daily Mail, “but the similarities were too great for me to ignore.”
Her main frustration now is not that the show was cancelled, but that if she ever revisits her own idea, it might look like she is the one doing the copying. “If I reprise my own creation,” she said, “it’s going to look like I’ve copied the idea from someone else.”
Unfortunately for Markle, this isn’t the first time she’s been accused of repackaging other people’s work.
In recent months, multiple accusations of creative overlap have dogged her ventures. Her lifestyle brand, As Ever, seemed to borrow both its name and aesthetic from an existing New York-based clothing shop. The logo was uncannily similar to the coat of arms of a small Spanish town called Porreres. The mayor of the town publicly complained.
Then there was Confessions of a Female Founder, Markle’s podcast (more on which below). The title bore a suspicious resemblance to another existing podcast by the same name—further fueling the perception that originality might not be Markle’s strong suit. Even her rebranded lifestyle company, now called As Ever, has come under fire for sharing its name with a Brooklyn-based fashion label.
Taken together, these incidents risk undermining Markle’s carefully curated image as a creative force for good. For someone who frequently speaks about values like authenticity, empowerment, and lifting up women’s voices, it all feels increasingly off-brand.
Critics argue that rather than breaking new ground, Markle appears to be repackaging the ideas and aesthetics of others—often women who have been quietly working in their fields for years without the benefit of royal fame or Netflix deals. The optics are not great. And for supporters who want to believe in Markle as a true creative visionary, the repeated accusations of idea-lifting are beginning to raise uncomfortable questions.
Is this all just an unfortunate coincidence? A string of innocent oversights? Or is Markle’s brand less about original creation and more about high-profile repackaging?
For Mel Elliott, the issue isn’t about malice or lawsuits. It’s about acknowledgment, collaboration, and credit where credit is due. “I would’ve loved to have contributed,” she said. “All I wanted was to be part of something that was, after all, inspired by the very same things that inspired me.”
The Daily Beast has approached Markle’s team for comment.
Markle’s Podcast Slips out of the Top 100
Markle’s latest podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder, has vanished from rankings published by streaming giant Spotify. The show debuted at number 10 on Spotify’s general top podcast chart in the United States but appears to have failed to generate organic growth.
The first episode featured Markle in conversation with Whitney Wolfe Herd, the founder of Tinder and Bumble. Critics generally panned it.
Markle’s previous podcast, Archetypes, topped charts at launch week back in 2022, although it quickly slipped down the rankings in the weeks that followed as listeners tired of the formula, which saw Markle interviewing famous friends.
