Meghan Markle has been accused of plagiarism by a British children’s author who says the Duchess’ canceled Netflix animated series, Pearl, had strong resemblances to her own book series.
“It’s a shame, really,” Mel Elliott, the writer behind the “Pearl Power” children’s book series, told Daily Mail. “There’s so many brilliant creative people out there who really need the work, and yet you have someone in this high profile position who just feels she can take.”
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“I’m quite disappointed in her, because who I thought she was, she doesn’t seem to be,” Elliott continued.
The children’s author told Daily Mail she saw news that Markle had sold a television show to Netflix that looked “very, very similar to an idea that I’d had for a TV show, staring Pearl, my character.”
Elliott explained that her book, “Pearl Power,” stars “a character called Pearl, who is a little feminist.”
“When I saw that Meghan was producing this TV show called Pearl, I contacted a copyright lawyer,” the author said, adding that her lawyer then wrote to Netflix, as well as Markle and Prince Harry’s Beverly Hills-based organization Archewell.
In his letter, Elliott lawyer said, “The similarities between your proposed animation series and my client’s work appear to be too many and too striking to be mere coincidence.”
“There was no response,” Elliott said. “I sent more lawyers’ letters, and it was after that when I saw Netflix had dropped the series, Pearl.”
“I was glad that it had been dropped, but also sad that now it wasn’t my idea anymore, because if I were to then work on the idea, it would look like I copied it off Meghan,” the author lamented.
Elliot went on to say that Markle “claims to be a feminist,” adding, “She claims to stand up for women, yet either her or her people go out there taking other people’s creative ideas.”
Netflix’s animated Pearl series was first announced in July 2021 as part of a $100 million deal between the streaming giant and Archewell Productions, with Markle named as the show’s executive producer.
But Elliott reportedly started developing “Pearl Power” into an animated series as early as 2018. Moreover, Elliott had already written three “Pearl Power” books — published in 2014, 2015, and 2016 — by the time Markle’s Pearl series was announced.
“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,” the British author told Daily Mail.
“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,” she added.
Above all else, Elliott noted that what “saddened” her the most was the fact that her “objection was never acknowledged” by Netflix or Archewell. She was simply ignored, and the show was dropped.
“Neither Netflix nor Archewell responded to me when I would have loved to have contributed and collaborated,” she said.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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