Meghan Markle was all smiles despite her Netflix woes as she appeared on the red carpet at a charity bash alongside her best friend Kelly Zajfen in LA last night.
The two women were at the Alliance for Children’s Rights 34th Annual Champions for Children event at the Beverly Wilshire – a Four Seasons luxury hotel in Beverly Hills.
The charity gala was the Duchess of Sussex’s first public appearance since she took personal control of As Ever after her partnership with Netflix ended after a year.
Meghan, 44, wore a stylish navy strapless gown by Ralph Lauren and black sandals from Stuart Weitzman.
And she was clearly happy to be with her good friend Kelly. She repeatedly hugged and put an arm around the charity’s co-founder on the red carpet.
Meghan also cradled Kelly’s baby bump for the cameras, thrilled because her friend is expecting a baby boy – four years after tragically losing her nine-year-old son George to Covid-19 and viral meningitis.
Heaping praise on Meghan last night, Kelly said the Duchess’ commitment to the The Alliance for Children’s Rights – a charity supporting children in foster care – was ‘truly inspiring’ adding: ‘I’m so grateful to have you by my side.’
After a brief chat with photographers the Duchess waved enthusiastically before heading inside for the gala.
The Duchess of Sussex leaves the red carpet and waves to the photographers at a Beverly Hills charity bash last night
Meghan was all smiles as she appeared on the red carpet at a charity bash alongside her best friend Kelly Zajfen
Meghan also cradled Kelly’s baby bump for the cameras, thrilled because her friend is expecting a baby boy – four years after tragically losing her nine-year-old son George to Covid-19 and meningitis
The Duchess hugs Kelly as they attended the children’s charity bash
Meghan also rested her hand on Kelly’s baby bump. She is expecting a child in the coming weeks
Amid another Sussex-Netflix split, sources close to Meghan claimed that she felt Netflix was too cautious with her lifestyle brand selling jam, candles and now flowers.
Insiders at the streaming giant then hit back and told Variety that the Sussexes had been difficult to work with at times, with one declaring: ‘The mood in the building is “We’re done”.’
Meghan was reportedly accused by Netflix staff of ‘disappearing’ off Zoom calls to signal her ‘offence’ and talking over her husband in meetings, sometimes ‘to recast Prince Harry’s thoughts’ when he was mid-sentence.
Amid the briefing war, Meghan stepped out with Kelly Zajfen, 44, who has been friends with the Duchess of Sussex for more than 20 years and lives close to her in California.
Kelly’s son George tragically died at the age of nine after contracting a viral illness more than four years ago.
Kelly, who has long praised the support she received from Meghan during her bereavement, has previously opened up about her loss, describing it in a personal essay as ‘traumatic, painful, and very vivid.’
Writing about George’s death in 2024, Kelly told People magazine: ‘It happened very quickly.
‘We had no idea when we took him into the hospital that 12 hours later, he would not make it. My 9-year-old son George died. Died of Covid and viral meningitis.
‘A healthy and vibrant boy could not fight it. We lost him. I kissed him.
‘But it was to say goodbye. It is impossible to know how to survive this type of grief. Even more impossible is the ability to find all the right tools that will help you manage each day. I definitely do not have all the answers’.
At the time of George’s death, the Meghan, 44, and Prince Harry, 41, showed their support by donating $5,000 to a GoFundMe set up in George’s honour, attributing the donation to their two children, Lilibet, four, and Archie, six.
Meghan’s red carpet appearance came after a series of bombshell articles giving an insider’s view of the Sussexes’ break-up with Netflix.
Three different insiders at the streaming giant briefed Variety writer Matt Donnelly that the Duchess of Sussex vanishing for ‘long periods’ during video calls was one of her ‘odd methods of providing feedback’.
‘Later Netflix teams like the marketing department would be informed that her absence [on Zoom] was due to her being offended by something that was said’, Mr Donnelly claimed.
The Sussexes’ lawyer Michael J Kump reacted angrily to allegations put to the couple by Hollywood’s entertainment bible before it published the piece this week.
Meghan is setting her own path for As Ever as the partnership with Netflix ended
The friends have been close for more than 20 years
Meghan wore a stylish navy strapless gown from Ralph Lauren and black sandals from Stuart Weitzman.
The Duchess looked delighted to support the charity
Kelly rests her own hand on her baby bump at the gala in LA last night – before inviting Meghan to do the same
Jennifer L. Braun, Kelly Zajfen, Meghan. Duchess of Sussex, Katherine Pope and Leslie Gilbert-Lurie at The Alliance for Children’s Rights 34th Annual Champions for Children bash
Mr Kump said that if Meghan ever left her screen it was to tend to her children as a working mother – not out of anger. Prince Harry is said to have said it is ‘categorically false’ that his wife would talk over him.
The couple’s lawyer also accused Variety of falling into ‘misogynistic characterisation of her bossing her husband around’ after writing that Meghan would ‘recast Harry’s thoughts’ in meetings.
Contesting that his client would walk away from Zoom calls in frustration, he said in a letter to Variety that Meghan ‘works from home, is the mother of young children aged 4 and 6, and often encounters (as many parents who work from home do) children who enter the space unexpectedly during a meeting. Independent of being a parent who works from home, Meghan is also conscious of shielding her team from the distraction of children’.
He added: ‘Nearly all professionals can attest to needing to turn off the audio or camera during a virtual meeting at some point during many hours of virtual business calls.’
Mr Kump also dismissed a number of other claims about Meghan’s behaviour in the piece entitled: Inside Meghan and Harry’s Falling Out With Netflix — and Why the Royal Couple Is Struggling in Hollywood.
The feature, which has made headlines around the world, also alleged she would interrupt her husband Prince Harry in meetings.
The publication stated: ‘In virtual and in person meetings with partners, she tends to talk over or recast Prince Harry’s thoughts, sometimes while he is in mid-sentence, sources say (usually preceded by a touch to the arm or thigh).’
Mr Kump said in his legal that this assertion ‘seems calculated to play into the misogynistic characterisation of her bossing her husband around’.
Prince Harry also attests this is ‘categorically false’, Variety said.
The couple’s company, Archewell Productions, is also accused of ‘poor communication’ in dealings with Netflix and Meghan was reportedly accused of talking over Harry, which the prince denies
Variety’s brutal takedown of the couple claimed that the streaming giant is said to be ‘done’ with Harry and Meghan.
Hitting back yesterday Netflix’s chief content officer Bela Bajaria declared of the Variety piece: ‘I would say don’t believe whatever you read’.
The feature examined the Sussexes’ deal with the streamer, which claims to be sourced from half a dozen well-placed insiders, says the union between the two parties has been ‘far from a fairy tale’.
‘The Sussexes’ perceived pattern of selling repackaged versions of the same story about their exit from royal life has exhausted Netflix,’ the magazine says.
The article goes on to claim: ‘Their partnership may continue to taper off, and with it will Meghan and Harry’s remaining showbusiness lifeline.’
It quotes a source as saying: ‘The mood in the building is ‘We’re done.”
In a series of devastating claims, the magazine said the couple’s ‘bedside manner has ruffled feathers in meetings’ while the ‘lacklustre’ ratings for shows such as With Love, Meghan have led to serious doubts at the streamer.
The couple’s company, Archewell Productions, is also accused of ‘poor communication’ in dealings with Netflix.
There are even claims – strongly denied by both Netflix and a lawyer for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – that Netflix chief Ted Sarandos is ‘fed up with the pair’.
The Sussexes, pictured here in Vancouver ahead of the 2025 Invictus Games, insisted via a spokesman they have co-operated with Netflix throughout and dismissed many of the claims in the Variety feature as false
He is said to have remarked he would not sit for a call with Meghan ‘unless a lawyer was present on the line’.
Netflix states this is ‘absolutely inaccurate’ while lawyer Michael J Kump, acting for the Sussexes, described it in a letter to Variety as ‘blatantly false’ and claimed that Meghan speaks and texts regularly with Mr Sarandos – as well as having ‘been to his home, sans lawyers’.
The article also says that two insiders allege Netflix, which Variety say paid around £45million for a five-year deal with the Sussexes, was ‘annoyed’ by the couple’s decision to give a tell-all interview to Oprah Winfrey in the wake of their acrimonious departure from the Royal Family.
The company was also said to have been ‘blindsided again’ by Harry’s decision to publish his vitriolic memoir Spare, details of which were ‘downplayed’ by Meghan.
The magazine suggests executives felt both projects had an effect on their own hit-job documentary with the pair.
However, a spokesman for the Sussexes insists they co-operated with Netflix throughout.
The magazine goes on to say that, despite the success of Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan, ‘A-list talent and directors’ are ‘hesitant to work with the pair’ given their track record – and it claims several projects have been canned.
Despite the streamer’s insistence that they remain committed to the couple through a ‘first look’ deal, ‘sales agents and filmmakers on the ground’ are said to be uninterested in any Archewell Productions involvement in projects, according to four different sources, the magazine says.
The magazine says that after her second series of With Love, Meghan ‘cratered’, sources told them that ‘Netflix was losing faith in the former royals’.
It concludes: ‘After half a decade of inconsistent shows, strategic shifts, false starts and a diminished hold on the popular imagination, are the Sussexes really living the Hollywood dream they imagined?’
Netflix boss Ted Sarandos (pictured) is said to be ‘fed up with the pair’, according to the piece
The insider revelations come less than a fortnight after it emerged Netflix was parting ways with Meghan’s lifestyle brand, As Ever.
The range, which produces products like wine, tea and jams, was initially launched in April 2025 in partnership with Netflix’s Consumer Products division, to coincide with the release of With Love, Meghan.
Both the brand and the show now seem to have been dropped – although a spokesman for the Sussexes told Variety there would continue to be ‘seasonal specials’.
