Meghan Markle's much-hyped As Ever jam is being produced under such tight secrecy that even the manufacturers have signed non-disclosure agreements, royal biographer Tom Bower has claimed in a fresh swipe at the Duchess of Sussex's lifestyle brand.
The news came after months of scrutiny over As Ever, the California-based label Meghan Markle launched last April with a glossy roll-out of small-batch strawberry jam, decorative dried flower petals, wine, and pancake mix. Billed as an elevated, homespun brand rooted in her Montecito life, it was quickly met with questions about price, provenance, and whether the products matched the carefully curated story around them.
For context, earlier reporting in theDaily Mailsuggested Meghan's jam is packaged about 2,000 miles from Montecito, although the exact location was not disclosed on the label. Labelling experts described the wording on the jars as 'purposefully vague,' noting that there was no clear indication of where the fruit spread is actually made, beyond the standard US regulatory information.
In the latest edition of theDaily Express'sDaily Expressosupplement, Bower said he had gone to unusual lengths to trace the jam's production chain. 'I spent a lot of time and a lot of money trying to track down firstly, where the jam was made, and secondly, who produced the jars,' he told the publication.
According to Bower, that trail ran into a wall of legal paperwork. 'She is so careful about controlling the narrative that even the jam makers had to sign non-disclosure agreements [NDAs] to protect the secret of Meghan's jam,' he claimed.
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None of this has been independently verified. As Ever has not publicly commented on Bower's allegations, and the use of NDAs around celebrity-fronted products is not in itself unusual. Without confirmation from the company or the manufacturers, the claims about specific contracts and conditions remain unproven and should be treated with a degree of caution.
For starters, the argument around Meghan Markle's jam is not really about strawberries and sugar. It is about authenticity, price, and the way celebrity brands sell a story as much as they sell a product.
The As Ever spreads were initially presented with a heavy emphasis on craft and lifestyle, amplified by limited-number PR drops to influencers and friends. Yet experts quoted by theDaily Mailsuggested the jam is likely 'mass-produced' and possibly made in a 'co-packaging' facility, where manufacturers produce goods for multiple labels under private arrangements.
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Source: International Business Times UK
