Meghan Markle has not managed to crack Hollywood despite her best efforts, and a showbiz expert believes the reason lies in her inauthentic and overly controlled public image.
According to showbiz reporter Fran Winston, whether in film, television, podcasts or documentaries, the Duchess of Sussex comes across as inauthentic and far too obsessed with controlling her image. While celebrities must be aware of their image, Winston notes that even a superstar like Tom Cruise is not afraid to poke fun at himself, something he has done plenty of times. The expert says they cannot recall a single moment when Meghan has laughed at herself.
Scripted Appearances Fail to Connect
Every time Winston sees or hears Meghan, everything feels so scripted and edited that it becomes utterly insipid. In contrast, her husband Prince Harry was happy to go on Joe Marler's podcast and engage in playful banter with the host, while Meghan seems to take herself far too seriously to do anything like that.
This is a problem, the expert argues, because podcasts and talk shows are a brilliant way for celebrities to win over the public. A good, spontaneous conversation is unbeatable for making people warm to someone, but it requires the ability to relax, have a laugh and let people see who you really are.
Vulnerability Missing From Public Persona
Looking at Paul Brunson's We Need To Talk, the most compelling guests are those who open up and bare their souls, talking about their mistakes, struggles and the things that make them human. Meghan's public appearances rarely offer that kind of insight, with everything so carefully controlled that it is hard to get a sense of the person behind the polished image.
This also explains why she never managed to make the leap from Suits to Hollywood stardom. Although she was in a successful television drama, that did not translate into a string of film roles between seasons, as it has for some actors in comparable shows. Screen acting requires vulnerability, the ability to let go, inhabit another character and expose uncomfortable emotions, which is difficult to do convincingly if you are constantly worried about how you look to the outside world.
Archewell Projects Fail to Take Off
Marrying Prince Harry has not exactly opened the doors to Hollywood either. The pair have produced projects under their Archewell banner, including Meghan's passion project documentary Cookie Queens, but nothing has really taken off in the way they might have hoped.
Hollywood might be built on make-believe, but the stars who succeed know that audiences want something real. The industry has plenty of celebrities prepared to talk openly about their personal battles, own their mistakes and admit when they have got things wrong. Far from damaging their reputations, that honesty often makes people like them even more.
Meghan, meanwhile, seems to have forgotten how to be real. With Love, Meghan was a perfect example, with its carefully curated lifestyle tips and picture-perfect presentation attracting ridicule for all the wrong reasons, coming across as pretentious rather than relatable. In her quest for perfection, Meghan has made herself look increasingly fake, so determined to control the narrative that she has forgotten one of the most basic rules of showbiz: people need to like you, or at least feel they know you, if you want them to keep watching.
Until she drops the carefully constructed facade and lets the public see the person beneath the polished princess posturing, Winston says she cannot see Meghan cracking Hollywood any time soon.
