The tall, handsome Canadian was a third wheel in the early days of her romance with Prince Harry — and he was front and center at their ...
The tall, handsome Canadian was a third wheel in the early days of her romance with Prince Harry — and he was front and center at their 2018 wedding.
However, he was nowhere to be seen in the first series of her recent Netflix lifestyle show With Love, Meghan — and I understand that he won't appear in the second series either.
Though that next instalment isn't due to air until the autumn, it was filmed at the same time as the first, in a rented $8 million home near to the Montecito mansion Meghan shares with her husband Prince Harry and their children Archie and Lilibet.
This is apparently is due to Anderson's extremely busy professional life – he's an executive at Soho House and travels 'almost constantly.' The private members club now has 42 outposts around the globe.
The last time he and Meghan were spotted together was at a baby shower for a mutual friend in December. And before that, he hadn't been pictured with her in years.
On top of Anderson's busy schedule, his friend admitted there was another reason he has steered clear from Meghan's new show, saying: 'He just really is not comfortable in the spotlight... it's not his thing.'
Other prominent personalities who Meghan counts among her friends, but who haven't appeared in her show, include Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey – though, it's hardly like either of them are afraid of the spotlight.
Another missing face has been feminist-trailblazer Gloria Steinem, with whom the Duchess of Sussex is close.
Steinem's absence is less surprising, for she has built a career around fighting for equality and getting women out of the kitchen – not sprinkling edible flowers on biscuits.
Perhaps a changing of the guard is afoot in Meghan's inner circle.
After all, in the first episode of With Love, Meghan, she described her make-up artist Daniel Martin as her 'best friend'.
Martin came over to stay, and the Duchess faced some mockery online for decanting store-bought peanut butter pretzels from their cellophane wrapping into another cellophane bag, tying it with a bow and attaching a hand-written tag, to put by his bedside.
She appeared not to know whether Martin liked tomatoes and was surprised when he told her that he was left-handed.
Anderson was on there with Meghan on the July 2016 holiday to London when she met Harry. He set up their blind at the city's Soho House at 76 Dean Street – and, two years later, arranged Meghan's low-key bachelorette weekend at Soho Farmhouse, in the Cotswolds.
On his birthday in August 2016, Meghan wrote in a celebratory post on Instagram: 'What would I do without you, my loving, supportive, and endlessly fun friend? I know what... I would be bored, and life would be infinitely less interesting. I love you SO much.'
Just over two weeks since launch, and With Love, Meghan has already dropped out of the Top Ten Netflix shows globally. The show was met with a rather critical response.
But for his part, Netflix boss Ted Sarandos still believes the Duchess has enormous pulling power, and the streamer is a partner in her yet-to-launch lifestyle brand, As Ever.
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In an interview in Variety magazine this week, Sarandos said Meghan was 'underestimated in terms of her influence on culture.'
Sarandos added that the streamer's reported $100 million deal with the Sussexes was 'good for marketing and branding'.
'We're a passive partner in Meghan's company,' he said, 'and it's a big discovery model for us right now.'
Meghan was also a topic if interest in Vanity Fair's interview with Gwyneth Paltrow this week.
The Goop founder said of her Montecito neighbors: 'I don't know Meghan and Harry... I mean, I've met Meghan, who seems really lovely, but I don't know her at all.'
Paltrow added, with what sounded like faint praise: 'I was raised to see other women as friends, not foes... I think there's always more than enough to go around. Everybody deserves an attempt at everything that they want to try.'
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