Misogynoir, Montecito, and Meghan: “With Love, Meghan” Brought Out the Haters

But guess what fuels those negative reviews?

Meghan making drinks in the kitchen in “With Love, Meghan.”

I watched Meghan Markle’s new Netlflix show, With Love, Meghan. It’s a lifestyle show where you’ll find Meghan whipping up frittatas for actress Mindy Kaling, baking cakes for her bestie/makeup artist, Daniel Martin, and making a garden fresh salad with farm-to-table pioneer Alice Waters.

Critics, mostly white, didn’t enjoy Markle’s show. They felt she wasn’t relatable. I mean, who does she think she is? People can’t afford eggs, and here she is, a Black woman, living in Montecito throwing tea parties with her homemade honey. I’m going to guess that everything in Montecito, from the flowers to the eggs (which Meghan gets from her own chickens), is more expensive than it is in most other places in the country. So what? Lifestyle shows and magazines are not meant to be relatable. I repeat — they are not meant to be relatable. You didn’t know? They’re meant to be aspirational and inspirational. Do you know how much time I spent in college and in my 20s watching these kinds of shows? Hours upon hours. I have an entire mental catalog, and I rarely cooked or decorated back then. Was Ina Garten or the Hamptons relatable? Giada De Laurentiis? Martha Stewart? Nope. And, they still aren’t. And, I still watch them from time to…