Meghan Markle’s estranged father, Thomas Markle Sr., has taken aim at her new Netflix series, “With Love, Meghan,” saying she’s “never been authentic.”
The Duchess of Sussex, 43, last week celebrated the release of the show on the platform, which has already been renewed for Season 2.
But despite the series reaching Netflix’s Top 10 list, it appears as though Meghan’s estranged family has not been contributing to its streaming success.
“I might sit down and watch it one day but I’m not sure,” Meghan’s estranged father told the Daily Mail, admitting that he’s seen “a ton of clips” of the 8-part series.
Thomas, who worked as a TV lighting director and director of photography on shows like “Married… with Children” and “General Hospital,” accused his daughter of using “pre-planned” facial expressions in her show.
“Unfortunately Meghan has never been authentic. She has to think about everything. She’s not spontaneous,” he told the outlet.
“Everything she says is pre-planned and rehearsed. It makes me laugh because I know all her looks and expressions.”
“I know when she’s faking it for the cameras. She’s trying so hard to be perfect that she tenses up every time the camera is on her,” he added.
Drawing on his own experience in the industry experience, Thomas Sr. explained what typically makes cooking shows successful.
“Cooking shows are horrendously boring unless the presenter has a passion for it,” the retired TV lighting director, 80, said.
“You have to be authentic to hold people’s attention. When you are stuffing the turkey’s ass it has to look like you’re having fun doing it.”
“The best cooks are funny, they mess up, they are human. She just wants to be perfect. It’s sad because she’s trying so hard to stay in the limelight,” he added.
Also in the series, the “Suits” alum — who now goes by Meghan Sussex — called herself a “latchkey kid” and opened up about her modest childhood to connect with viewers, claiming she “grew up with a lot of fast food and TV tray dinners.”
“It feels like such a different time, but that was so normal with the microwavable kids meals,” Meghan says in the series.
In response, Thomas Sr. told the outlet, “We occasionally ate TV dinners, which family doesn’t?’ But I was working two jobs so money was never an issue. We would eat out at least three times a week and order in the rest of the time.”
His comments come just days after his son, Thomas Markle Jr., slammed the “malarkey stories” Meghan shared about her childhood in her Netflix show.
“That’s just another one of the malarkey stories she sold to the royal family for sympathy,” Thomas Jr., who hasn’t spoken to the duchess in over a decade, told TalkTV. “We weren’t poor. She didn’t have to rub two nickels together at Sizzler’s salad bar.”
“The entire world knows how she treated her family, especially her father, who gave her everything. That’s why nobody’s buying it,” he added.