Fakery for Friends? Oprah Called Out For Including Meghan Markle's 'Struggling' As Ever Brand on Her 2025 Favorite Items List — 'That Endorsement Has to Be Transactional'
Royal watchers called out Winfrey including Markle's fruit spreads on her Favorite Things list as 'paid promotion.'
Nov. 6 2025, Published 2:58 p.m. ET
Billionaire Oprah Winfrey is feeling the heat after including an item from pal Meghan Markle's "struggling" As Ever brand on her 2025 Favorite Things guide for holiday gifts, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The media titan, 71, released her list of pricey products on Wednesday, November 5, and got called out for being "transactional" by including a fruit spread set from her friend and Montecito, Calif., neighbor Markle, 44, on the annual list.
Winfrey's Favorite Things
Winfrey included Markle's $42 fruit spread set on her 2025 Favorite Things list.
Winfrey made no bones about the fact that she was one of the earliest recipients of Markle's jam-making hobby thanks to their close living proximity.
"Before my neighbor, Meghan, started her business, she shared her homemade recipes with us," the former talk show host began in the description.
Winfrey continued. "I love to drizzle it on an English muffin, or yogurt, or ice cream. I also love bringing a jam or preserves as a hostess gift, and with this pretty box set of orange marmalade and raspberry and strawberry spreads, just add a bow and you’re ready to go," while promoting Markle's $42 As Ever Signature Fruit Spread Gift Set.
'Nothing More Than Paid Promotion'
Markle and Prince Harry are close pals with Winfrey and their A-list Montecito neighbors.
In Winfrey's Instagram announcement post, comments about her gift guide appeared to have been heavily edited to include only glowing thoughts about the items.
However, people took to X to call out the connection between the women as being a business arrangement to save Markle's flailing As Ever brand.
"Oprah’s favorite things list is nothing more than paid promotion at this point, and Oprah herself isn’t exactly loved these days. Putting Meghan’s overpriced jam on it doesn’t make it luxury, it makes it desperate," one user huffed.
"Now, Markle is having her 'friends' shill for her. If this runny fruit spread is Oprah's favorite things, she has issues," a second person wrote.
"Looks like nobody wants to buy Meg's spread anymore, and she needs to get rid of all stock," a third joked about Markle's item appearing on the list.
A fourth person scoffed, "Everyone on the planet knows that these aren’t really Oprah’s anything. It's all PR and networking to get on the list. Your products don’t have to be good; you just have to know the right people — another thing she bought her way into, while referring to Markle.
They Go Way Back
Winfrey was a surprise guest at Markle's royal wedding, where she was seated in an area reserved for close friends and family.
Winfrey and Markle's connection goes way back to her days before marrying Prince Harry in May 2018.
The Color Purple star stunned fans when she turned up at Markle and Harry's royal wedding, despite having no prior known contact. Winfrey was prominently seated on Markle's side of the Quire in Windsor Castle's St George's Chapel, an area reserved for royals and close friends and family of the couple.
The former Suits star confessed in her infamous 2021 interview with the CBS personality that Winfrey tried to arrange a sit-down between the pair several months before Markle's wedding. She said she had to pass at the time because she "wasn't even allowed to have that conversation" without a member of the royal staff present.
"I couldn't have said ‘yes’ to you then. That wasn’t my choice to make," Markle added.
"You turned me down nicely and said perhaps there will be another time," Winfrey noted.
Controversial Interview
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Markle made bombshell allegations against the royal family in her 2021 interview with Winfrey.
Winfrey's bombshell interview with Markle aired in March 2021 to blockbuster ratings.
The California native made sensational claims involving alleged racism by the royal family, how they ignored her alleged suicidal thoughts, as well as how she and Harry got married three days before their "spectacle" of a wedding, a claim that turned out not to be true.
Being neighbors in tony Montecito furthered the pair's connection, as Markle and Windrey have shared stories about duckling rescues and other encounters.
Markle officially launched her As Ever brand in April, which included fruit spreads, honey, crepe mix, and edible dried flowers.
Despite dubious claims that everything "sold out" immediately, the brand has been plagued with drama over limited restocks and minimal expansion.
