EXCLUSIVE: Meghan Markle Accused of Exercising 'Total Editorial Control' Over Harper's Bazaar Cover Story — As Critics Savage it as 'Brown-Nosing Fiction Disguised as Barely-There Journalism'
Meghan Markle has once again found herself drowning in backlash.
Nov. 26 2025, Published 3:45 p.m. ET
Meghan Markle is being accused of going "full diva" by exerting "total editorial control" over her Harper's Bazaar cover story, prompting insiders to question who really authored what one told RadarOnline.com was "stomach-churningly sycophantic copy, disguised as barely-there journalism."
The December profile, written by Kaitlyn Greenidge, landed months after claims Markle had previously made such sweeping editorial demands on Vogue when she was begging to appear in the mag, it cost her the cover feature and led to Anna Wintour losing her ice-queen cool.
Alleged Demands and Lost Vogue Cover
Markle has faced backlash over her 'Harper's Bazaar' cover story.
Sources at the time, in 2022, said her requests for photographic and editorial control were so extensive its then-boss Wintour allegedly blacklisted her from a planned feature.
According to a fashion insider familiar with the incident, Markle and her team tried to "micromanage every comma," pushing for a cover, approval over all photographs and final copy, and even a global rollout.
Wintour, the insider added, "scrapped the entire thing" when she heard, and is said to have snarled behind the scenes, "You don't get to run Vogue like it's your personal Pinterest board."
'Harper's Bizarre' Accusations
Anna Wintour reportedly canceled a Vogue feature after Markle demanded full control.
Magazine staff are now comparing the situations, with Harper's Bazaar being branded "Harper's Bizarre" for appearing to have caved to Markle's demands.
One senior editor source claimed: "When Meghan wants control, she says, here's the angle, here's the story, here's how I must appear. She thinks she has the right to hand out PR briefings to the world's most seasoned journalistic professionals – and it is utter madness."
Another added: "The running joke in the industry now is that Harper's should have credited her as 'guest editor, subject and muse' as her profile piece is so gushing. At a certain point when reading their 'interview' piece, you start asking, 'Who really wrote this s---?'
"And the answer, it seems, is Meghan. The piece is so stomach-churningly sycophantic to Markle it appears to have her handprints over every line. It seems it was written, then handed to her for an edit."
"It is trite nonsense with zero insight, wit, or even anything based in reality," the source raged. "It seems no one seemed to want to edit it, except Meghan. This is PR bulls--- to the max, and brown-nosing c---. It's fiction, disguised as journalism – or, rather, barely-there journalism."
Sycophantic Prose and Critical Reaction
Editors claimed Markle tried to micromanage every detail.
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Greenidge's beyond-flowery prose in the 'Bizarre' piece describes Markle as a woman "pursuing a life and a career that feel authentic to her and her alone" and insists she "leads with affability" – despite droves of her staff having quit over the years.
One of the sickliest sections of the piece fawns: "Meghan is of a generation of women who were taught to seek self-actualization through work."
And it simpers: "She's pursuing a life and a career that feel authentic to her and her alone... how do powerful women flex? Do they lead with deference or dominance? Meghan seems to lead with affability."
Online critics have flooded social media with memes poking fun at the profile, and highlighting its most sycophantic moments.
Among them is the line: "When Meghan became engaged to Prince Harry in 2017, it triggered a tectonic shift in the culture," before the piece goes on to credit Markle for fighting racism by marrying a rich royal.
Critics said Markle used the interview to praise herself and her marriage to Prince Harry.
Markle says in the piece about growing up pretending to be a TV host for her friends: "I had the personality type of 'I can help coordinate, I can help organize, and I can facilitate.' I think I'm probably the same now."
"I don't like things that feel overly realized," the ex-royal says. "If you overwork the dough, it's not going to rise."
A former media strategist who has worked on celebrity profiles said, "It read like the world's most expensive LinkedIn bio. Either Harper's caved to her demand to edit this, or the writer is in love with her. Or Meghan paid for an advertorial."
The Bazaar profile features Markle gloating to kids over the fact she has reached a 90-day Duolingo streak, and describing herself as being obsessed with being "the smart one" in childhood. She also positions her approach to motherhood as a scholarly discipline, saying she had made it "a study, using books and apps."
Markle also speaks at great length about her Goop copycat brand, As Ever, linking it to jam-making with her children and telling Greenidge, "I hope they see the value of being brave. They saw it when the jam was just a pot on the stove, bubbling."
One fashion source moaned: "It's like a Hallmark card Meghan has written to herself."
Critics also noted the emphasis the piece gives to Markle insisting her marriage is perfect – despite constant rumors she and her husband, Prince Harry, are hurtling towards divorce and have spent months leading separate professional and personal lives.
Markle says about Harry in the piece: "No one in the world loves me more than him, so I know he's always going to make sure that he has my back." She adds Harry, 41 – who she cloyingly calls 'H' – sees media coverage she wouldn't and possesses "childlike wonder and playfulness."
A former royal aide said: "It is classic Meghan. It's like reading about someone writing fan fiction about their own husband."
A publishing executive source said: "The level of control she wanted for her Vogue piece was compared to Beyoncé levels. But she's not Beyoncé. She wants to approve the writer, the photographer, the placement of her pages – everything. She goes on all the time about being authentic, but she's anything but."
But an insider said Markle had failed to totally effectively edit her comments for the Bazaar piece. At one point in the profile, a house manager at a friend's empty New York home announces the arrival of "Meghan, Duchess of Sussex" as she enters the room – despite no one being there.
Greenidge's piece said: "We're in a grand brownstone on the Upper East Side that belongs to one of Meghan's friends. When I enter, the house manager announces, 'Meghan, Duchess of Sussex,' even though we appear to be the only other two people in the house."
