In July 2021, Meghan Markle shared that she would be working on an animated children’s show for Netflix. The show was called Pearl, and would’ve told a young girl named Pearl’s story “as she learns to step into her power and finds inspiration from influential women throughout history.” However, the show never came to be. Now, an author has come forward and claimed that the Duchess of Sussex’s proposed Netflix show was suspiciously similar to her children’s book series.
Mel Elliott published three ‘Pearl Power’ books before Meghan announced her Netflix show.
Prior to Meghan’s Netflix show announcement in 2021, author and illustrator Mel Elliot had already written several books about a girl named Pearl. On the author’s website, the children’s book character is described as “a strong-willed girl who challenges gender stereotypes and stands up for what’s right, proving that determination and fairness are powerful traits.”
Before Meghan announced her show called Pearl, Mel had also started on an animated TV show about her Pearl. Per Mel’s website, the show follows Pearl as she “meets influential and inspiring women from history.”
The author’s lawyers previously said the similarities between Meghan’s show and ‘Pearl Power’ seemed too ‘striking to be mere coincidence.’
In July 2021, her lawyers sent Meghan a letter about possible copyright infringement. Later, the author sent two additional letters to Archewell and Netflix, the Daily Mail reported. Several weeks after Mel sent her last letter, Meghan’s Netflix show was axed. While it was upsetting to see that her idea might’ve been stolen, the author was even more upset that her letters went unacknowledged.
“What saddened me most is that, having brought the similarities between my Pearl and Meghan’s Pearl to the attention of Netflix and Archewell, my objection was never acknowledged — neither Netflix nor Archewell responded to me when I would have loved to have contributed and collaborated,” Mel told the Daily Mail.
She said she’s glad Meghan’s show was canceled.
But at the same time, it was not the outcome she had hoped for. “I am glad that Meghan’s Pearl show was dropped, and I hope that I had something to do with it,” the author told the Daily Mail. “But what I really wanted was for it to have gone ahead, and for me to have been acknowledged or invited to work as a collaborator on the series.”
Mel referred to Pearl as her “dream project.” Now, her dreams have been crushed in a way, because if she decides to continue with her project, people might think she copied Meghan’s show, not the other way around.
The author recalled feeling ‘disappointed and confused’ when Meghan announced the show.
While it’s unclear exactly where Meghan got the idea for her show called Pearl, Mel said “the similarities were too great for me to ignore.” The announcement was especially disappointing to Mel because Meghan normally works to uplift other women.
“Meghan is a feminist who sticks up for other women, so I was disappointed and confused to see how similar Netflix’s proposed show Pearl was to my own Pearl Power who had been created seven years earlier,” she told the Daily Mail.
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