Ted Sarandos recently made a discreet move by unfollowing Meghan Markle and her lifestyle venture, As Ever, on Instagram, coinciding with the brand’s removal from the streaming platform.

The Netflix executive was among the first to follow the Duchess of Sussex when she made her social media comeback at the beginning of 2025.

Last March, Meghan’s lifestyle brand debuted on Instagram, initially named American Riviera Orchard before rebranding to As Ever. Sarandos had included the account among the roughly 450 profiles he follows.

However, the Daily Mail has disclosed that about a month ago, both Sarandos and his creative chief, Bela Bajaria, ceased following Meghan and her brand.

Previously, both Sarandos and Bajaria had expressed strong support for Meghan, with Sarandos referring to her as “the rock star” as recently as last spring.

But there were claims in the US this week – strongly denied by both Netflix and a lawyer for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – that Netflix chief Ted is ‘fed up with the pair’.

Mr Sarandos’s wife, Nicole Avant, does still follow Meghan on Instagram – but not As Ever. A Netflix source told the Daily Mail: ‘Nicole and Meghan are still friends.’

This week, the Daily Mail’s Editor at Large, Alison Boshoff, gave the inside story on the split and wrote that Meghan and As Ever seem to have been expunged with ‘Stalinist thoroughness’ by Netflix’s top brass – seemingly indicating a proper behind-the-scenes falling out.

Meghan made her red carpet return at a charity gala at the Beverly Wiltshire Hotel in LA last night – the first public appearance since the latest Netflix split

Netflix boss Ted Sarandos is said to be ‘fed up with the pair’, according to a critical piece in the US. Netflix and the Sussexes’ lawyer have disputed many claims in the Variety feature

Mr Sarandos quietly unfollowed Meghan Markle and As Ever on Instagram shortly before her brand was purged by the streamer 

Sources told her Mr Sarandos was in awe of Meghan’s ability to capture attention, and was impressed by the way every item shown in their 2022 blockbuster, score-settling documentary, Harry & Meghan, sold out – even the Hermes blanket, which was seen artfully folded over the back of a chair.

However, the mood music has changed.

Both Sarandos and Bela Bajaria have been heard saying things in private about the pair which were ‘not complimentary’, although Ms Boshoff’s sources declined to share exactly what.

The streaming giant put money in but the brand struggled and the plug was officially pulled on Friday, March 6.

One source told her: ‘There was just all this jam. We had thought that there would be more to it.’

According to insiders, Hollywood entertainment bible Variety claimed Mr Sarandos 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’.

Last month, 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 this week 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.

These claims were also denied by their lawyer, who insisted Meghan, as a working mother, only left her screen to care for Archie and Lilibet – not out of frustration.

Meghan returned to the red carpet at a charity bash alongside her best friend Kelly Zajfen in LA last night – her first public appearance since the Netflix drama this week.

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.

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, as well as cradling  Kelly’s baby bump for the cameras.

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.

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.

Kelly Zajfen and Meghan have been friends for more than 20 years and were at the children’s charity gala in Beverly Hills last night

The Sussexes’ lawyer, Mr Kump, reacted angrily to allegations put to the couple by Hollywood’s entertainment bible before it published the piece this week.

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 four and six, 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.

Mr Sarandos, his wife Nicole Avant and Meghan at a Beyonce gig in 2023. Nicole still follows Meghan on Instagram

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 be Meghan and Harry’s remaining showbusiness lifeline.’

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.

The Variety article also says that two insiders allege Netflix, which Variety says 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?’

The insider revelations come less than a fortnight after it emerged Netflix was parting ways with 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’.