‘Harry & Meghan’ Director Liz Garbus Hits Back at ‘Pearl-Clutching’ Critics of the Docuseries
Liz Garbus, director of Harry & Meghan, has spoken out against critics of the Netflix docuseries. Why Garbus said criticism of the show, as well as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, “doesn’t quite add up.” Plus, her “looking glass” experience with Buckingham Palace.
‘When Harry and Meghan want to tell their story in their own words, it suddenly becomes an issue,’ Liz Garbus says
Garbus discussed the criticism surrounding Harry & Meghan — and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex — in a Jan. 24 Vanity Fair interview.
“People are very happy to read everything about Harry and Meghan when it’s somebody else writing about them,” the Emmy-winning filmmaker said. “But when Harry and Meghan want to tell their story in their own words, it suddenly becomes an issue.”
Harry & Meghan premiered on Dec. 8, 2022, with Volume I detailing the early days of the couple’s relationship across three episodes. A week later, on Dec. 15, 2022, Volume II dropped with three episodes about Harry and Meghan’s decision to “step back” from royal life.
“People are not forced to watch a documentary,” Garbus continued. “It’s not going to be required in school. It is your choice what you binge and what you don’t binge.”
“There have been more documentaries and books written about Harry and Meghan than Harry and Meghan have produced themselves,” she added. “So I think it’s an interesting kind of pearl-clutching that doesn’t quite add up with the public’s appetite for reading stuff about them from other people.”
The public’s “appetite” was certainly whetted with Harry & Meghan Volume I. It broke Netflix’s viewership record for unscripted content in the first week and saw streams climb with Volume II.
‘Harry & Meghan’ director claimed Buckingham Palace tried to ‘discredit’ Netflix by saying the streamer didn’t ask for comment
Garbus also opened up about the making of Harry & Meghan and how she experienced some of what Harry and Meghan claimed in the docuseries firsthand.
“For instance, Buckingham Palace said that we didn’t reach out for comment [on the docuseries] when we did,” Garbus said. “They did that to discredit us. And by discrediting us, they can discredit the content of the show.”
“We lived through some of those moments that were a little bit like Alice Through the Looking Glass,” she added. The director also touched on British TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson’s December 2022 column about his desire to see Meghan publicly humiliated. Garbus called it an “extreme example of the kind of coverage they’ve been getting,” which she “certainly lived through” a “bit.”
Harry has another Netflix docuseries on the way
Fans and critics alike won’t have to wait too long before another docuseries from the Sussexes drops. Heart of Invictus, a Netflix original about Harry’s Invictus Games, is premiering in the summer of 2023.
The streamer shared some details about the program on Twitter in January 2023 after Harry and Meghan were seen with a camera crew in tow at the 2020 Invictus Games in The Hague, the Netherlands, in April 2022.
“This new series from Archewell Productions follows a group of extraordinary competitors from around the globe — all service members who have suffered life-changing injuries or illnesses — on their road to competing at the Invictus Games,” the streamer said in a tweet alongside a photo of Harry and an Invictus Games athlete.
Following Heart of Invictus’ premiere, the games will be held in Düsseldorf, Germany, in September 2023.
