The four powerful women who won’t let Meghan fail: DOMINIQUE HINES

The four powerful women who won’t let Meghan fail: DOMINIQUE HINES,

Meghan Markle is out. Out of the Met Gala. Out of favour in Hollywood. Out of momentum. That, at least, is the current narrative. But the reality is rather different and speaks of a far more strategic approach.

For behind the glare and off the red carpets she nowadays rarely walks exists a network of women who have not only stood by her since Megxit, but continue to quietly shape what comes next.

At the centre of this group of power-players is a tight, carefully curated circle of four women, all billionaires and all deeply embedded in Hollywood power.

They are the stratospherically famous TV star Oprah Winfrey and the less well-known, at least in the UK, former Starbucks chair Mellody Hobson, US TV titan Shonda Rhimes – the producer behind Bridgerton – and diplomat Nicole Avant, who is married to the co-CEO of Netflix Ted Sarandos.

Not close friends in a social, day-to-day sense, they nevertheless operate within the same Montecito and Hollywood power ecosystem, where overlap is constant. Sources tell me they are part of a wider, informal but highly active group of influential figures, many based between Montecito and Los Angeles, who remain in regular contact via private messaging groups and off-camera conversations.

This extended circle is said to include film producer Tyler Perry, TV personality Gayle King, and even Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland. ‘They are all incredibly busy, they are not sitting having brunch every week,’ one source says. ‘But if one of them needs something, advice, funding, a contact, they show up. That is how power works at that level.’

Together, they offer something far more valuable than that gaudy Monday night invitation to the Met. They provide insulation, access and, when needed, intervention, too.

And all of them, it turns out, are quietly aligned around the same prize, a project insiders say could be the biggest global entertainment coup of them all, not to mention a royal PR catastrophe: Meghan’s autobiography.

Behind the glare and off the red carpets she nowadays rarely walks exists a network of women who have not only stood by her since Megxit, but continue to quietly shape what comes next

It began in 2020.

Before buying their own home, Meghan and Harry stayed at a mansion in Beverly Hills owned by Tyler Perry, a billionaire 56-year-old film producer, playwright and actor, who encouraged the pair to settle in ‘safe and well connected’ Montecito.

They then purchased Riven Rock Estate, a 14,500 square foot property in the Santa Barbara area, for $14.65million (£10.7million) in June and moved in the following month.

The exclusive enclave was not just a lifestyle choice for the then panicked, freshly unemployed working royals. It was a strategic location, one of the most discreet concentrations of wealth and networking in California and, crucially, where Oprah Winfrey lived.

The talk show billionaire’s role in Meghan’s post-royal life is well documented, most notoriously through the March 2021 CBS interview which hardened the rift between the Sussexes and the rest of the Royal Family.

Watched by 17million Americans, 12million Brits and tens of millions more worldwide, it was a global cultural event. While Oprah, 72, and Meghan rarely appear together publicly, they now live minutes from each other in Montecito and see each other regularly, meeting privately.

I am told Oprah sends Meghan’s children, Archie, six, and Lilibet, four, fruit from her own garden, and also gives presents for Christmas, Easter and birthdays.

But Oprah’s influence also extends into the couple’s social calendar, shaping where Meghan is seen and, just as importantly, where she is not. I can reveal it was Oprah who encouraged Meghan and Harry to attend Kris Jenner’s 70th birthday party on November 8 last year, a lavish James Bond-themed soiree at Amazon boss Jeff Bezos’s Beverly Hills mansion.

Oprah Winfrey interviewed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in a famous CBS interview in March 2021

Oprah’s influence extends into the couple’s social calendar, shaping where Meghan is seen and, just as importantly, where she is not

The goal was for Meghan to rub shoulders with key power-players, including Bezos himself.

After the event, however, the couple famously requested the removal of photos posted online by Kim Kardashian and Jenner. Publicly, sources cited sensitivity around Remembrance Day in the UK, but I’m told it wasn’t just that: the truth is, the Sussexes still want to be seen as above the celebrity frenzy.

The same calculation applied to the wedding of Bezos and Lauren Sánchez, which took place in Venice last June. The couple were invited but chose not to attend, not because of any feud, but because they knew it would be a media storm and they would be called opportunists.

Less visible, but arguably just as important, is Meghan’s ‘mentor number two’, Mellody Hobson. Chief executive of Ariel Investments, former chair of Starbucks, the 57-year-old is married to Star Wars film-maker George Lucas and operates at the intersection of finance, media and influence.

‘She doesn’t give her time to just anyone. Duchess or dinner lady, Mellody is selective,’ a source close to Hobson tells me. ‘That’s because she lends credibility to anyone she associates with.’

Hobson appeared on Meghan’s Archetypes podcast in November 2022 – a rare public endorsement – but a business associate of Hobson tells me she has counselled Meghan at length in private and shared business tips about ownership, intellectual property and long-term control of content.

Then there is Shonda Rhimes, one of the most powerful figures in TV and a key architect of Netflix’s success through hits like Grey’s Anatomy and Bridgerton.

The 56-year-old’s support matters less in a visible, promotional sense and more in terms of positioning. Meghan and Harry’s Netflix deal may have cooled, but relationships inside that ecosystem still count.

‘She doesn’t give her time to just anyone. Duchess or dinner lady, Mellody is selective,’ a source close to Hobson tells me (pictured, Mellody with film-maker husband George Lucas)

Shonda Rhimes is a key architect of Netflix’s success, being the mind behind hits like Grey’s Anatomy and Bridgerton

In an industry where access is everything, Rhimes remains a gatekeeper.

A producer who has worked with both women tells me Rhimes is also close to diplomat Nicole Avant, further cementing the Netflix thread running through Meghan’s entire network.

Avant, 58, daughter of music executive Clarence Avant and a former US ambassador to the Bahamas, moves easily between politics, entertainment and philanthropy. She is also married to Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix.

It is here that the narrative currently circulating – that Avant is somehow at odds with Meghan – begins to unravel. ‘That’s just not what I’ve seen,’ a Netflix insider tells me. ‘The opposite, in fact.’

Sources familiar with their dynamic describe ongoing contact and continued alignment within the same professional and philanthropic circles. The suggestion of a falling out is described by one Netflix insider as ‘misread noise rather than reality’.

Avant has long been an advocate for Meghan within Hollywood, steadying relationships when the couple’s reputation has wobbled.

The relationship, a person familiar with their dynamic tells me, has at times been emotional. There have been moments when Meghan has been overwhelmed by the pressure, the collapse of commercial deals, the constant tide of negative headlines, and Nicole Avant has been there.

At a Netflix gathering on April 10, held at Sarandos and Avant’s own home in Montecito, the two women were seen holding hands and embracing. It was seen as a cynical, forced closeness, but a guest at the gathering says it was a ‘purposeful display of unity’.

Nicole Avant has long been an advocate for Meghan within Hollywood, steadying relationships when the couple’s reputation has wobbled

So where does all this leave Brand Sussex?

Meghan’s Archetypes podcast for Spotify ended after one season and her Netflix lifestyle series, With Love, Meghan, filmed in Montecito, was not renewed. Archewell’s documentary Polo underperformed with critics and audiences.

Commercial projects, including her As Ever lifestyle brand, have yet to fully scale up.

And yet the broader Netflix relationship has not collapsed. Last month, a senior Netflix executive pushed back on claims of a rift, urging people not to ‘believe everything you read’ and confirmed that projects remain in active development.

Meghan and Harry signed a reported $100million (£74million) deal with Netflix in 2020, and while output has been uneven, the relationship remains active, with projects continuing on a rolling development basis rather than a single renewed contract.

Meghan and Harry are actively developing a scripted polo drama with Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, the producing duo behind Gossip Girl and The OC.

The project, says the Netflix insider, is an upstairs-downstairs drama set in the world of elite polo. ‘This has been salvaged from the underperforming documentary and turned into a sports drama that is likely to be of more interest,’ the same insider tells me. ‘It shows how much Netflix is trying to save this relationship.’

Meghan is studying executive producing through Archewell Productions, including behind-the-camera skills such as project development and production decision-making. Sources say the emphasis is on shaping content rather than performing in it.

‘She doesn’t want to be on the poster,’ one says. ‘She wants to be in the writers’ room.’

And then there is the project that sits behind much of this alignment: Meghan’s autobiography. For years, it has hovered as rumour, occasionally acknowledged, never confirmed in full detail. She has, according to those familiar with the process, been taking notes for years, not casually, but methodically.

A publishing insider tells me: ‘Voice notes on her phone at 1am. Written journals. Structured reflections. She has been documenting everything since before Megxit.’

The value of that material is obvious. A memoir from Meghan would not just be a book. It would be a multi-platform event, with global publishing rights, an interview special, and a streaming component.

It is expected to be bigger than Harry’s Spare, which sold more than 1.4million copies on its first day of release in January 2023. Publishing experts tell me Meghan’s book could easily surpass those numbers.

Nicole Avant is said to have fostered behind-the-scenes chats about how such a project could be developed in partnership with Netflix as a structured, multi-part rollout tied to the book’s release.

The timing, however, is complicated. Publishing plans are believed to have slowed in part due to the delicate question of King Charles and Harry’s ongoing attempts, however tentative, to repair their relationship.

A memoir is leverage, but it also represents a risk.

Sources say Meghan wants the book to be both a record-setter and a reset, telling her version of events while also charting her success in America. ‘She does not want it to be a book of grievances,’ one insider tells me. ‘She wants it to reflect where she is going, not just where she has been.’

I am told she is acutely aware of the fallout that followed the Oprah interview and Harry’s Spare, and is determined to strike a careful balance. ‘There are things she could say that would dominate headlines,’ the source adds. ‘But she is weighing that against the bigger picture.’

One of the moments she is particularly keen to address is the backlash to the Instagram story she posted while she was in Paris for the Balenciaga show last October. Filming was done close to the Paris tunnel where Princess Diana died and there was an outcry about it being insensitive. ‘That really stayed with her,’ the source says. ‘She wants to explain the context properly.’

Sources say Harry’s priority remains stabilising relations with the Royal Family, particularly King Charles, while maintaining some form of contact between their children and his father.

Meghan is described as supportive of that objective, with no desire to escalate tensions. The approach, according to a source close to the couple, is ‘avoid rupture while keeping future options open’. Archie and Lilibet are said to have occasional contact with their grandfather through calls and video calls.

There is also a deeper layer to this support. Behind these four women is a wider network of women in entertainment and media who are convinced that Meghan has been given an unfair hearing, and see her much publicised missteps as not unforgivable.

So, yes, the Met Gala did not need Meghan, but apparently, she did not need it either.