Journalist Faces Unhinged Backlash After Meghan Markle Retreat Removal
It has been just over a week since I detailed my removal from the Her Best Life luxury women's retreat, which featured Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and the response has been, to put it mildly, unhinged. This reaction did not come from the event organisers or the retreat itself but from strangers on the internet.
My Instagram direct messages filled up rapidly, and at least one woman created a TikTok video ranting about me. The tone ranged from defensive to accusatory and outright hostile, with many people confidently labeling me as a Meghan hater, a bad person, or worse. Interestingly, none of these accusations are true.
The Nuance of Critical Support
What seems to have short-circuited the discourse is a simple concept: two things can exist simultaneously. I can admire Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, be genuinely interested in hearing her speak, and still feel disappointed by how an event connected to her was handled. Being both supportive and critical is not hypocrisy; it is nuance. However, nuance does not perform well online.
Instead, what followed felt like a smaller, more personal version of the exact dynamic Meghan herself has discussed for years. The pile-on, the assumptions, and the speed at which a stranger becomes a target for not aligning with a preferred narrative were all evident. The irony is difficult to ignore.
Defence or Harassment?
Many of the messages I received were framed as defence—defence of Meghan, defence of women, defence of the event. Yet, the tone, aggression, and willingness to engage in personal attacks echoed the very culture of online harassment that Meghan has publicly opposed. At a certain point, it becomes worth asking: what exactly are you defending, and at what cost? Sending abuse to someone for sharing a personal experience does not protect anyone; it simply extends harmful behaviour further.
There was also a particularly strange accusation woven through the noise: the idea that I am somehow profiting from this situation. I regret to inform those individuals that this is not how journalism works. As a full-time, salaried journalist, I do not receive bonuses for uncomfortable experiences or for being refunded from a wellness retreat and dealing with hostile messages. If anything, writing honestly about such experiences tends to invite scrutiny rather than reward.
The Core of the Story Remains Unchanged
What I did was exactly what journalists do: I experienced something unusual, documented it factually, and shared it. That is the job. It has also been confronting to see tabloids pick up fragments of my story, name me, quote me, and frame narratives in ways that veer into the same harmful rhetoric that has followed Meghan and Prince Harry for years. To be clear, I want no part in that. I like them both, and sharing my experience was about transparency, not contributing to narratives I do not support.
The core of the original story has not changed. I registered interest, was invited, paid nearly $3000, was welcomed, and then was removed because of my job, despite no disclosed policy stating media were not allowed. That is what happened. Understanding that security around a high-profile figure is tight does not negate the fact that the process was poorly communicated. Both things can be true, and acknowledging that reality strengthens the argument. It was not malicious, but it was mishandled, and that was the point.
Surprising Reactions and Broader Questions
What has surprised me most is not that people disagreed—disagreement is healthy—but that the reaction tipped so quickly into personal attacks. Grown women, many of whom the retreat is ostensibly designed to empower, are choosing to direct that energy at another woman for simply recounting her experience. This raises a broader question about the kind of community we are eager to buy into. If the idea is connection, support, and meaningful conversation, then surely that extends beyond a paid weekend and includes allowing space for someone to say this did not sit right with them without being shouted down and harassed.
Not all of the response was negative. In fact, one woman's wellness retreat in Melbourne reached out to me directly, offering a place at their own event and acknowledging that what happened did not feel fair. It was a small gesture but a telling one, proving that it is possible to engage with criticism without hostility.
Moving Forward
As for Her Best Life, I have not heard anything further and do not expect to. I do, however, hope that the women who attended the retreat this past weekend and Meghan herself had a genuinely positive experience. That part has never been in question. What lingers is simply this: there was a version of events where I could have attended as a paying guest, as intended, and none of this would exist. Instead, I was asked to sit it out, and when I spoke about it, I was told, loudly and repeatedly, that I should not have.
That, more than anything, is the part I find hardest to reconcile. If sharing a factual experience invites this level of backlash, it says far less about me than it does about the environment we have all somehow agreed to participate in. And I, for one, am not particularly interested in staying quiet just to make that environment more comfortable.
