Meghan Markle has gotten herself back in the headlines as of late with the launch of her much-delayed and renamed lifestyle brand (“American Riviera Orchard” became “As Ever” due to trademark issues – though that’s not how the former royal tells it) and the debut of her latest podcast venture.
As it turns out, the current rebrand has won Markle an unexpected fan in comedian Tim Dillon, who joined Megyn on Friday’s show to discuss why he believes she should be celebrated as one of America’s great “con artists.”
The Product Line
In the wake of the premier of her Netflix series With Love, Meghan, last month, Markle finally dropped limited quantities of her As Ever collection of jam – ahem, fruit spread – honey, baking mixes, tea, and flower sprinkles.
The inventory sold out quickly, but the items have so far gotten mixed reviews. While Markle recently claimed she was going the ‘luxe for less’ route by offering products that “look more prestige” but are “accessible and affordable,” the price points are still raising eyebrows.
Megyn noted the “Raspberry Spread” at the heart of the collection retails for $14, but you can find plenty of grocery store brands (which critics have said Markle’s jam is indistinguishable from) for under $5. The $12 herbal teas, $14 shortbread and crepe mixes, and $28 honey are similarly marked up for the quality. “You tell me whether this person has actually landed the plane on ‘prestige, but totally affordable,’” Megyn said.
Dillion quipped that Markle deserves some credit for her assessment of the U.S. consumer. “What’s brilliant about what she is doing is she knows people want to spend money and spending money makes them feel like they’re getting something that is better, even though it might not necessarily be true,” he explained. “You can tell when you watch the show that she thinks we’re all… just kind of pigs in the mud and that she is helping us with jam and honey.”
The whole thing has given Dillon a new perspective on the one-time duchess. “I’ve come around on her because, since I was a little kid, I love con artists. I think they’re fun… and an important part of the tapestry of our country… and I find her to be a great con artist,” he quipped. “Seeing it all happen in real time… I recognize how much this was the plan the whole time, and… hats off to her.”
“This is someone who came to prominence marrying into the Royal Family, claiming they were racist, claiming she wanted to dedicate herself to uplifting young women around the world, and is now selling jam… That’s beautiful,” he continued. “She moved to the richest and whitest area [Montecito, California] and makes honey. There’s nothing better than that.”
The Podcast
Perhaps that is what makes the conversations on her latest attempt at podcasting so compelling. On Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan (no points for pithiness), Markle is “getting advice and insights from a handful of amazing women who have scaled small ideas into successful companies” as she “builds out a business of her own.”
While talking to Bumble’s Whitney Wolfe Herd in the debut episode, Markle let the audience in on one of her most profound struggles as a female entrepreneur thus far:
MARKLE: …Let’s be honest, launching a business, it can be so overwhelming, even with the best of teams. Whoa. It’ll keep you up at night… For example, a month ago, I was absolutely consumed with packaging. Boxes. It’s all I could think about, and I would sit there doing the unboxing in my head. Is there tissue paper? What about the packing peanuts? But they’re biodegradable. Where does the sticker go? And hold on, what size the box is going to be. No, that’s not going to fit all the SKUs. Oh my gosh. And then someone says, ‘But you don’t want to brand the outside of the box because a porch pirates.’ Had never heard that before. What’s a porch pirate? And then I’m sitting there and I’m like, does any of this actually matter? Of course, it matters. It matters at the beginning, but how much does it matter?
In Dillon’s view, this demonstrates just how much Markle – sans any semblance of self-awareness – can add to the public discourse. “When you are married to a prince, how do you start a business,” he joked. “That’s a real question because the struggle she had to go through being married to a prince and being one of the most famous people in the world – how do you start a business when you’re rich and famous?”
Three Cheers for the ‘Huckster’?
Ultimately, Dillion believes this iteration of Markle is the most authentic yet. “Now that she is coming out as a monster, I’m actually on board. I’m into it… because there is no longer even an attempt… to be this conscientious person,” he said. “In the beginning, it was all about, like, ‘unwinding the systems of oppression.’ She would go to a third-world country, and there’d be a bunch of kids dancing, and she’d take a photo with them.”
He believes she has finally dropped the ruse. “Now it seems much more like she is looking at what Gwyneth Paltrow did with Goop… and that’s what she wants to be,” he speculated. “She wants to be Martha Stewart.”
And here’s the thing: She just might make it work. “You gotta hand it to her, she knows… we have a fatally short memory and we are kind of tolerant of however people want to reintroduce themselves in the moment,” Dillon concluded. “So, she understands America… We root for the huckster. We root for kind of the criminal sometimes, and she is assuming that role and going, ‘This is where I am today.'”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Dillon by tuning in to episode 1,047 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.