ROYALSMeghan Markle's 'Hypocritical' Instagram Return Is 'Another Money-Making Exercise'
Meghan Markle returned to Instagram on January 1, 2025, after previously branding it as 'toxic.'
Meghan Markle started the new year by returning to Instagram on Wednesday, January 1, but the Duchess of Sussex's past criticisms of the platform confused some critics.
Meghan Markle took a step back from social media after marrying Prince Harry.
"I honestly haven't got a clue what she's doing now. I would have thought we should have had the theme tune from Jaws as she was running down to the water there," former royal correspondent Charles Rae told GB News, referring to the video of Meghan being by the ocean.
"They [Harry and Meghan] came off social media because they were getting unparalleled abuse," Rae noted.
Before marrying Harry, Meghan had a popular Instagram account that amassed millions of followers, but she stepped away from the platform when she joined the royal family. Though the duchess later advocated for safe online use, she painted the digital landscape as harmful.
"They've spent the last few years complaining about social media," Rae explained. "Harry spent a lot of time saying spiteful things, nasty things about Facebook, which is owned by Meta, which also owns Instagram. So I don't quite understand where they're coming from."
Meghan Markle previously alluded to internet trolls impacting her mental health.
Meghan's first post of the year was a video of her writing the year "2025" into the sand — but not everyone seemed to "like" the upload.
"This post is ridiculous. She's had this this dormant Instagram account for two or three years, and there's been hints before that it was going to come out, and do something sensational," Rae said, as there have been reports of the former actress securing the handle @meghan since 2023.
"If this is the sensational bit, then I'm not going to be losing any sleep checking Instagram," he added.
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Meghan Markle left the royal fold in 2020.
In the past, Meghan alluded to online trolls affecting her mental health, and the constant scrutiny seemingly influenced the Suits star's decision to disable her comments section.
"It's interesting though that she's actually switched off all the comments on this one — clearly she doesn't want to have anybody on there saying anything nasty or anything good about it," Rae noted.
In 2023, Spotify decided to pull the plug on Meghan's podcast, "Archetypes," but she's been expected to capitalize on her fan base after losing the lucrative contract.
"Certain influencers earn an awful lot of money from using Instagram. Talking about figures, whether this is true, it's something like £790,000 [almost $1 million USD] that she could earn per post," Rae stated.
"It's another money-making exercise by them, and if they make money, fine," he noted. "If they don't, well, it'll be another failure."
Meghan Markle is working on a cooking series for Netflix.
OK! previously reported the duchess is developing a cooking program for Netflix after a rough period in Hollywood.
“This is a profound change of direction for Meghan — in some ways to become like a Martha Stewart. If Meghan can pull it off, it's a very rich seam to mine," PR expert Mark Borkowski told an outlet.
“If it succeeds, then it's a massive leap forward and will take away from a lot of the negativity she's had. And it will make a lot of people take her very seriously," he added.
If Meghan's culinary program does well, it could be lucrative for the Sussexes' joint brand.
"So, as an income stream, it's huge... if she gets it right," Borkowski continued. "But it could be make-or-break for the Duchess if the show is yet another failure."
“I don't believe you can have so many failed ventures without people questioning what you're going to do next," he concluded.
