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After spending 99% of her post-royal life “nesting and healing” in Montecito, and also trying to make us eat flowers, Meghan Markle’s future looks a lot less Netflix-and-chill. Previously fronting $60 million to support Markle’s alleged “passion for elevating everyday moments in beautiful yet simple ways,” the streaming giant officially dumped the duchess of Sussex and her hostage prince, leaving hopes of future projects and a whole bunch of jars of jam in a “box to the left” (lyrics by Beyoncé, one of Meg’s fake BFFs).
Within hours of Netflix breakup headlines hitting mainstream media, Markle employed her personal PR Iron Dome: posting about her kids on Instagram. Well, she posts everything but their faces. As People breathlessly reported the moment it went live, Markle’s As Ever Instagram account dropped a close-up shot of Markle’s hands cupping her daughter Lilibet’s hands, which held a white bloom to tease an upcoming collab with “ephemeral luxury” flower brand High Camp Gardenias. For when nothing but a $255 limited-edition box of flowers, herbs, and tea stuff will do.
Earlier that day, as if she could sense the future bad press, Markle shared an Instagram video featuring a glitch-like snippet of Lilibet’s voice, along with her shoe, and her tiny hand patting a chicken. If she can keep fans flapping in the breeze when it comes to her kids, the clickbait always works. But it feels less like she’s protecting her kids from the spotlight and more like she’s holding onto the only card she has left to play. When all else fails for Markle, I bet we’ll finally see Lilibet and Archie’s faces.
Probably too innocently nicknamed “sharenting,” posting about kids on social media remains a hotly debated topic, with 75% of parents snitching on other parents for posting too much information about their kids online. Whether it’s about their location, embarrassing experiences, or inappropriate photos, an online presence can sabotage a child’s self-confidence, make them vulnerable to child predators, or worse.
Plenty of celebrity parents succeed in keeping their kids’ lives offline. If you think about it long enough, you might remember that actors Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes actually have two daughters you never see. Responding to a fan on Instagram, Mendes said of their kids, “I’ll talk about them of course, with limits, but I won’t post pictures of our daily life.” Halle Berry has also kept her children’s lives on lock, telling TODAY, “It’s a safety issue. I just don’t want to plaster them all over the internet. That just doesn’t feel right for me.”
The reason you probably can’t picture what George Clooney’s kids look like — or Drew Barrymore’s, Adele’s, or Chris Hemsworth’s, for that matter — is that their faces are rarely, if ever, featured on social media. But the opposite is true for kids who aren’t just getting “sharented” on social media; they’re built into their family’s billion-dollar brand.
Fifteen years into posting on Instagram, we’ve all been around the block enough to know how brutal the social media microscope can be. Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s oldest daughter, North West, made her social media debut as an infant in 2013. By the ripe old age of 10 months old, she was posing with her parents for Vogue and making headlines like “North West’s Vogue photo shoot faux pas: Peeing on Kanye,” clearly aimed at humanizing the Kardashians.
Over a decade later, 12-year-old North launched her own Instagram and a TikTok account, which she reportedly shares with her mom; it has 21 million followers. Recent posts show her in decidedly anti-Kardashian blue hair, finger piercings, fake face tattoos, and a black grill that creates the illusion of having no teeth. Is she just rebelling against her famous-for-being-famous mom? Creating an identity unrelated to her notorious rapper dad? Or just existing as a ridiculously privileged kid? Nothing’s weird when shock value is the family business.
When fans voiced concern for North’s well-being, Kim responded, “It’s okay [heart hands emoji].” But as followers continue to zero in on North’s “knock-kneed” walk, the alleged “bowel” problems Kanye brought up, and the dyslexia diagnosis North discussed on TikTok, “okay” doesn’t seem to paint the right picture.
It’s a similar story for kids who become regulars on other social media platforms, as the Hulu documentary “Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke” exposed. The Utah-based influencer family known as 8 Passengers (two parents and six kids), headed by mom Ruby Franke, once raked in an estimated $100,000 per month on YouTube, sharing the adventures of a fun-loving Mormon family. Eight years after the channel was launched in 2015, Franke’s 12-year-old son was recorded on a stranger’s home security camera with ligature wounds on his ankles and wrists, looking malnourished and asking for help. After a widely reported trial detailed the brutality with which Franke leveraged her children’s fame, Franke and her family therapist accomplice, Jodi Hildebrandt, were each convicted of four counts of aggravated child abuse and sentenced to four consecutive 15-year prison sentences.
Okay, I have to give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe Meghan Markle is intentionally making a solid move by not sharing much about her kids’ lives on social media until they’re old enough to decide for themselves. Still, I can’t help but wonder if she’s just waiting to cash in on the big reveal.
In 2008, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie reportedly sold exclusive photos of their newborn twins, Vivienne and Knox, to Hello! and People magazine for $14 million. As ethics columnist Dr. Bruce Weinstein noted, “If your own parents are literally selling you out, where can one feel safe?”
Maybe celebrity kid pics don’t go for quite as much these days, especially if you’re driving the Sussex struggle bus. But when it comes to Meghan Markle’s kids, we’ll see how bad the press needs to be for us to get the full picture.
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The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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