Meghan Markle accused of plagiarism again! Cancelled Netflix show Pearl under fire from British author

Meghan Markle is facing new round of plagiarism allegations once again. British author Mel Elliott alleged that the Duchess’ shelved Netflix animated series Pearl has striking resemblance to her own creation, which were “too great to ignore." She said she sent a legal letter suggesting a potential infringement of copyright in relation to her own work- Pearl Power.

Meghan Markle accused of plagiarism 

Meghan show Pearl was announced in 2021 as a part of her and Prince Harry’s multi-million dollar deal with Netflix. 

Pearl followed the story of a young girl learning life lessons from influential women in history.

Author slams Meghan Markle

Elliott, 51, from Hastings, who is known for her children book series, said she had reached out to Netflix and Meghan via personal letters but did not receive an answer.

Daily Mail quoted her saying, “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. Of course, I can’t know if anyone on her team had seen it and been inspired by it, but the similarities were too great for me to ignore."

By the time Meghan’s Netflix show was announced, Mel had already published three books in her Pearl Power series — in 2014, 2015, and 2016.

Meghan Markle ignores legal notices

Elliott's lawyer wrote to Meghan, as per the portal,: "The similarities between your proposed animation series and my client’s work appear to be too many and too striking to be mere coincidence. It also appears that there is a risk that your proposed series may infringe intellectual property rights belonging to my client and/or may give rise to a claim in passing off (or in the US, some form of unfair competition)."

After receiving no reply from Meghan, reportedly the children author yet again sent personal letters to Archewell and Netflix.

Mysteriously, Pearl was cancelled in May 2022. Netflix reasoned that Pearl was among the several projects which were dropped due to falling subscriber numbers which necessitated cutbacks.

Why did Mel Elliott keep quiet?

Elliott said she decided to not bring the matter in public due to fear of trolling by Meghan's fans. However, it seems she decided to speak up after seeing the duchess projects' tanking.

She also said, "I am glad that Meghan's 'Pearl' show was dropped, and I hope that I had something to do with it.

“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. Pearl was my dream project and now, annoyingly, if I reprise my own creation, it's going to look like I have copied the idea from someone else.”

Elliott’s third Pearl Power book was a big success. It gained attention when actor Ryan Gosling attended The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Victoria Beckham bought a copy for her daughter. Actor Kate Winslet was also reportedly seen with one of the books from the series.

Before Elliott, fans of Pamela Anderson had accused Meghan of copying the Baywatch star's Cooking with Love show for Netflix's With Love, Meghan.