What to Know
Meghan Markle‘s cover issue of Harper’s Bazaar is officially here, and people have a lot of opinions about it. For the shoot, Meghan made the surprising decision to go make-up free, and though she looks absolutely stunning, somehow, the choice has sparked a lot of conversations… and even a think piece or two.
Basically, while some people are applauding Meghan for how good she looks, others are already tearing Prince Harry‘s wife down for the statement they think she’s making by not wearing make-up.
The cover and interview were released this week.
Some of the photos for Meghan’s cover interview with Harper’s Bazaar are in full color, while others are in black and white, but she chose to skip the make-up for all of them — and somehow, she still looks glam.
In the wide ranging conversation, Meghan hit a lot of topics, including how she coped with becoming a member of the royal family when she married Harry in 2018.
“I think my boundaries became stronger once I came into the public eye in this very… I could think of any adjective to fill the blank. And it would probably work,” she said. “You find different ways to protect yourself, whether that’s self-preservation or it’s just growing up.”
Some people are calling the photos from the shoot “awful.”
There’s no shortage of hate for Meghan on the internet, and her latest photo shoot is certainly no exception.
“Old washed-up MM finally got her cover,” one troll wrote on X. “These photos are so awful I wonder who she ticked off at Harper’s Bazaar.”
Another critic replied, “It is like the camera had the ugly filter on.”
Meghan’s cover also happened to spark a story written by Katie Rosseinsky for The Independent titled “Can We Please Stop Applauding Celebrities Like Meghan Markle For Posing Make-Up Free?”
“Barefaced shoots (and their close relation, the makeup-free Instagram selfie) aren’t really relatable,” she wrote. “They have just become another way to force actual average women to compare themselves to unrealistic standards. What feels most egregious, though, is when these objectively beautiful images are positioned as somehow imperfect, and when we are supposed to believe that posing for them is some kind of act that benefits us all.”
Others believe the reaction to Meghan’s shoot is a sign of jealousy.
The article from The Independent has made it to a royal-focused subreddit, and people aren’t amused by the writer’s take on Meghan’s shoot — or the backlash that the Duchess of Sussex has received so far just for posing bare faced.
“I’ve never seen someone hated for much for simply existing,” one person noted.
Another said, “Seriously, as a white woman, these white women piss me off to no end. They need to get over themselves, and get over the fact that Harry married a woman of color.”
Make-up free or not, Meghan likely has the confidence at this point to know she looks good… but this debate does bring up a bigger question about whether or not photoshoots like this one are still able to accomplish making the same statement they once did.
