Fresh off the drama surrounding the posted-then-deleted pics of her and Prince Harry at Kris Jenner’s birthday bash, Meghan Markle is out with some brand new – sanctioned – photos and a glowing feature to go along with them.
A makeup-free Meghan graces the cover of the December 2025/January 2026 issue of Harper’s Bazaar, and she sat for an accompanying profile in which she talked endlessly about her favorite topic (herself) with as much self-awareness as we have come to expect from the former royal (i.e. none).
On Thursday’s show, Megyn was joined by Link Lauren, host of MK Media’s Spot On with Link Lauren, for a dramatic reading and full breakdown of some of the cringiest parts of the piece.
The Cover Shoot
A bare-faced Markle appears on the cover of Bazaar in a black peplum suit and drop earrings with the headline “Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Meets Her Moment.” Inside, the reader is treated to more photos of the Suits actress starring vacantly at the camera in designer clothes and jewelry.
“I’m just going to say it: She doesn’t look good. She looks sad. She’s makeup-less, which I’m sorry, but it’s not good. She needs some eyeliner,” Megyn said. “She’s not a model. She is just playing one here… [with] about 25,000 outfit changes. [She is] trying to look like [Gisele Bündchen], which she is not.”
But worse than the photo shoot, in Megyn’s view, is the cover story itself, written by features director Kaitlyn Greenidge. She took issue with Greenidge’s writing, but she mostly found fault with the inanity of Markle’s behavior and quotes.
All Hail?
While the feature was as friendly as it was fawning, Greenidge chose to include the highly unflattering detail that on not one but two occasions when they met, Markle was announced as “Meghan, Duchess of Sussex” before entering.
The first happened when she was waiting for the As Ever founder outside the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles for a prearranged meet and greet with local students. The second came when they were in a borrowed New York City brownstone together to finish the interview. The kicker? Greenidge reported that, aside from the “house manager” who made the announcement, she and Markle were the only two people in the home.
The ‘Smart One’
When Markle was asked what she has learned from her mistakes, she apparently deadpanned, “You learn not to do it again,” before clarifying: “If it all goes swimmingly, you don’t learn from it. If you don’t learn anything, you’re not going to grow.”
But when it comes to said growth, Megyn and Lauren noted that the actress does not seem to have outgrown her need to remind everyone of her alleged intellect – as illustrated by this section of the profile:
“How do powerful women flex? Do they lead with deference or dominance? Meghan seems to lead with affability. The warmth with which she greets each of these men, and with which they reciprocate, is genuine. With me, her interviewer, where the power balance shifts back and forth, she is warm and open, and she always maintains direct eye contact.
It’s a skill she’s honed since childhood. ‘I was such a little nerd,’ she says. ‘My entire identity was wrapped up in being the smart one. There used to be this show … I’m dating myself, but do you remember Studs?’ This is where I am reminded that Meghan, like me, is an elder millennial, born in 1981. We are a maligned bunch, hated by our elders for our generational insistence on authenticity and social justice, derided by those younger for our earnest belief that the world is capable of change—what Gen Z has labeled ‘cringe.’ Studs is an elder-millennial touchpoint, a dating game show that aired on Fox in the early ’90s. I distinctly remember my mom and her friends hating it because of how often the contestants used the word buns. ‘After school, kids would enact a little makeshift version of Studs to play. They were like, “Well, Meghan can be the host,”‘ she says. ‘I had the personality type of “I can help coordinate, I can help organize, and I can facilitate.” I think I’m probably the same now.'”
This, Lauren said, reveals everything you need to know about how Markle views herself. “Meghan Markle always says she’s known as the ‘smart one’ and that her whole identity is wrapped up in being smart. We’re still waiting to see that smart identity,” he said. “Like, was it smart to leave the royal family to go sell jams, jellies, dog biscuits, and wickless candles? You could be royalty right now… So, Meghan Markle, it’s actually quite pathetic to see someone fall from grace so hard?”
But that wasn’t all. Markle also had Bazaar get in touch with Serena Williams so she too could offer a quote about – you guessed it – how smart her friend is. “She’s just so smart, and I feel like no matter what, I can always learn from her,” Williams said. She told Greenidge that the last time the two hung out, Markle “was talking about this amazing woman who is really helpful and how to talk to kids. I’m implementing so much that she’s teaching me.”
That praise followed a nugget about how Markle is opting for a “very different” parenting style than her mother, Doria Ragland, because, Greenidge wrote, “she has made it a study, using books and apps, a diligence that has made her an authority within her friend circle.”
Megyn was unimpressed. “She’s so unique in that she read a parenting book,” she asked. “No one’s ever done that except for Meghan Markle?”
Chasing Fame
The piece ends with Greenidge recalling how Markle told her “she’ll be having lunch soon with Gloria Steinem, or Glo, as she calls her.” They apparently met during the pandemic through “a mutual acquaintance was in their shared pod” (whatever that means) and shared a Thanksgiving together.
Greenidge concluded that her subject is “remarkably at ease with the surrealism of global celebrity.” In fact, she wrote, “she seems to enjoy it.” Megyn said that the writer at least got that right. “Thank you for that remarkable insight I never knew,” she joked. “Hello, it’s why she married that ginger. It certainly wasn’t for love of his weirdness and beta role in the royal family.”
Lauren agreed. “She couches herself as this big humanitarian… but all she does is just slap her name on things. She’s selling jams. She’s on the cover of elite magazines, doing fashion photo shoots, hanging out with Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sánchez, and the Kardashians,” he explained. “All she actually cares about is being famous… That is really the thesis of the situation: She wants to be a celebrity in any way, shape, or form.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Lauren by tuning in to episode 1,198 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.