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Meghan Markle draws public ire by posting a photo of her daughter Lilibeth for As Ever rebrand in what many consider a breach of her own principles. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have made a point of keeping their kids away from public glare, making it clear to even the most relentless paps that their little ones were off-limit. Their pics have become increasingly scarce as Archie and Lilibeth grow older, with the parents of two sharing only a handful of well-timed snaps capturing the kids from a distance or those featuring only their dorsal views or blurred-out images.
While one would expect the couple’s decision to withhold their kids’ photos from the public was in their bid to give them a childhood “as normal as possible,” free from the hectic demands of Hollywood, the duchess’ latest move defies that logic.
Meghan Markle Reveals New Photo of Lilibet on Website
On Tuesday, Meghan Markle announced her lifestyle rebrand from America Riviera Orchard, to As Ever via an Instagram video, revealing she secured the name back in 2022. She also launched a new website for the lifestyle brand, sharing a rare photo of her daughter as a nostalgic cover image.
The heartwarming image featured Meghan Markle’s daughter Lilibeth, strolling beside her in a picturesque field. The two donned white ensembles, with the three-year-old’s red hair standing out in the side-view shot. Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams has called out the 43-year-old’s decision to exploit her daughter for such highly-publicized brand promotion despite previously asserting her desire to protect her kids’ privacies. Speaking to Fox News about the lifestyle rebrand, he divulged,
“When unveiling it, Lilibeth appears, which is rare, When an adult is covering up a mistake, why not use a child to divert attention? We rarely get a sight of the Sussex children… She comes across as charmless and sycophantic. I wouldn’t believe anyone I didn’t trust if they confided in me, and I certainly don’t trust her.”
British broadcaster and photographer Helena Chard also addressed Meghan Markle’s use of her daughter in her lifestyle rebrand which she described as cringe-worthy behavior. Chard noted,
“Featuring her children in her work is the inevitable cute touch that she can also control. You have to applaud her tenacity. But Markle hasn’t stepped away from her self-induced drama. She seems to be stuck in a revolving door of inauthentic, contrived, and on occasion, cringeworthy behavior.”
Markle Criticized for Cringe-Worthy Lifestyle Rebrand
Similarly, royal fans have frowned against Meghan Markle’s decision to exploit her daughter’s privacy for her As Ever lifestyle business rebrand after going through so much pain to protect her kids from the public claws for years. An enraged netizen wrote on Reddit,
“So Rachel is using a three-year-old child as a shield from bad publicity. Wow.”
Another accused the Suits alum, who played Rachel Zane in the legal drama series, of bidding her time in the hopes of someday using her kids as bargaining chips to maintain her fame. The Redditor suggested this was the sole reason behind the Duchess’ decision to hide her children’s faces, writing,
“Side view from far away. Posting her children’s faces will be her last ditch attempt at relevancy and she will want a huge payout for it. Her kids are like an insurance policy for her. She’ll use them when everything else has failed.”
Aside from sparking criticism for using her daughter Lilibeth in brand promotion, Meghan Markle’s As Ever hit another roadblock within the first hours of its release. A New York-based clothing company with the same brand name As Ever spoke out on Tuesday, pointing out how the duchess’ bigger brand threatens to trample the small family venture that has been in existence since 2015. This clashing names with an already existing brand, coupled with her past trademark dispute and the constant rebranding of her lifestyle business have left many wondering if the duchess ever bothered to conduct due research before opting for her ideal business names.
