Meghan Markle’s latest lifestyle launch was supposed to be a cozy little moment of self-care. Instead, a $64 “Moment to Unwind” gift set has turned into another flashpoint in the culture war around her brand, with critics calling the price “disgusting” and accusing her of cashing in on her royal-adjacent fame. The backlash is loud, personal, and very online, but it also says a lot about how people feel about celebrity wellness empires in 2026.
At the center of the storm is a woman who has already built a multimillion dollar image around aspirational living, handwritten labels, and small-batch charm. The fury over one gift box is really about whether that image still feels authentic, or whether, as some of her harshest detractors argue, she “has no shame” in turning every curated moment into a premium product.
The $64 set that lit the fuse
The controversy kicked off when Meghan Markle’s lifestyle line rolled out a $64 bundle marketed as a gentle pause in a busy day, complete with a bookmark and other small comforts. The set, framed as a “Moment to Unwind,” landed with fans who like the Duchess of Sussex’s polished aesthetic, but it also triggered a wave of anger from people who saw the price tag as wildly out of touch with real-world budgets. One viral comment branded the box “disgusting” and accused Meghan of monetizing basic relaxation rituals at luxury markups.
Fuel was added when shoppers noticed a “limit of 4 per order” warning on the product page, which critics seized on as proof that the brand was more about hype than scarcity. One commenter sneered that the cap existed “so no one can discover her stock,” suggesting that the restriction was a marketing trick rather than a practical control on inventory, a claim that spread quickly across social feeds and was highlighted in coverage of the outrage.
As Ever’s cozy aesthetic, and the bookmark Meghan drew herself
The gift set is part of a broader push to expand Meghan’s As Ever brand, which has been steadily adding lifestyle products that lean into her carefully crafted image of calm domesticity. Earlier this year, Meghan Markle, who is still widely referred to by her royal title as the Duchess of Sussex, used the line’s first 2026 launch to introduce a bookmark she designed herself, folded into the same “Moment to Unwind” concept that now sits at the center of the backlash. The idea was simple: a small, personal object that makes reading feel like a ritual rather than a rushed distraction.
Supporters saw that detail as proof that Meghan is still hands-on with the creative side of her business, pointing to the way the bookmark and packaging were presented as an extension of her own handwriting and taste. Coverage of the launch noted that Meghan Markle was “kicking off” the year by expanding As Ever with this set, and that the bookmark was pitched as something she had personally sketched, a claim that helped sell the product as intimate and bespoke before the price tag became the main talking point around the set.
From jam jars to millions: the money behind the brand
The fury over a $64 box does not exist in a vacuum. It comes after months of scrutiny over how much money Meghan’s lifestyle empire is pulling in, and how it is doing it. Earlier this year, critics seized on reports that her jam, sold in curated boxes at $42 (about £31), had generated an eye watering £26.7 million in sales, a figure that became shorthand for what some commentators framed as a broken system where celebrity endorsement can turn pantry staples into gold. The idea that jars of fruit spread could be spun into that kind of revenue hardened the perception that As Ever is less about homey authenticity and more about aggressive monetization.
Behind those numbers sit questions about stock and scarcity that have now spilled over into the “Moment to Unwind” row. An insider claimed Meghan had “sold almost one million” jars of jam, a boast that was quickly tested by online sleuths. One Reddit user, InfiniteSky55, said they had tried to add exactly 200,000 of each item to their basket to probe the site’s inventory limits, a stunt that turned into a mini scandal of its own as people debated whether the brand’s scarcity narrative matched the apparent scale of its stock.
A brand identity that keeps changing its name
Part of why the latest outrage sticks is that Meghan’s lifestyle identity has been in flux for years. Her original venture, launched as Americ, was pitched as a kind of California-inflected guide to food, wellness, and entertaining, but even admirers admitted the concept could feel muddled. Reports on Meghan Markle’s finances have described her personal and lifestyle brands as “a little confused,” noting that the Americ project leaned heavily on handwritten labels and aspirational imagery without always making clear what, exactly, it was selling beyond access to her taste. That ambiguity has followed her into As Ever, where the line between personal storytelling and product marketing is deliberately blurred in Meghan Markle’s favor.
The name As Ever itself is the product of a rebrand that came after a messy trademark saga. In February, Ms Markle shifted away from the earlier American Riviera Orchard concept and formally renamed the company As Ever, a move that was meant to simplify the brand but instead opened a new can of legal worms. A trademark application for As Ever ran into trouble when it collided with an existing registration held by a Chinese clothing outfit called ASEVER, a clash that turned what should have been a clean pivot into a case study in how not to handle global branding. Analysts have pointed to the trademark debacle as evidence that the brand’s foundations were shakier than the glossy packaging suggests.
From “word salad” to logo wars: the naming drama
The rebrand did not come out of nowhere. Meghan Markle Nixed the Name American Riviera Orchard Because It Sounded Like was not just a mouthful as a phrase, it captured the criticism that the original name felt like “Word Salad,” a jumble of aspirational buzzwords rather than a clear identity. According to reporting on the decision, Meghan ultimately agreed that the American Riviera Orchard label, with its layered references to Montecito and rustic abundance, risked sounding contrived instead of chic. The shift to As Ever was supposed to strip away that excess and land on something cleaner, more timeless, and easier to trademark, even if the “Word Salad” critique has stuck in the public imagination.
Even after the rename, the brand’s visuals have not escaped scrutiny. Meghan Markle’s lifestyle brand sparked controversy over its name and logo when the As Ever identity was unveiled, with critics on the right accusing it of leaning too heavily on royal-adjacent motifs and on a script style that some saw as derivative. The logo debate might sound niche, but it fed into a broader narrative that Meghan was trying to have it both ways, distancing herself from the monarchy in interviews while still trading on the aesthetic cues that come with being the Duchess of Sussex, a tension that was flagged in coverage of the logo.
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