Michelin-starred chef receives loss of life threats after he claimed to have rejected probability to seem on Meghan Markle’s ‘painful’ new Netflix present

A Michelin-starred celebrity chef says he has received hundreds of hateful messages including death threats after criticising Meghan Markle‘s new Netflix lifestyle series.

Jameson Stocks claimed to have rejected an offer to work on With Love, Meghan because he feared being ‘slammed for being a part of’ a ‘forced and fake’ show.

The chef believes that he made the right choice, blasting the show as ‘terrible and painful’ to watch – although sources said Stocks was in fact not invited to participate.

But since attacking the show in a GB News interview on Saturday, 41-year-old father-of-two Stocks said he ‘started getting death threats and all sorts of nasty messages’.

He told the New York Post: ‘And I’m thinking to myself, “Christ. I’ve not gone in on somebody personally here because that’s something I do not do and would not do”. And it’s something that’s just not [in] my nature, to be honest with you.’

Stocks said he had received ‘hundreds and hundreds’ of hateful messages, adding: ‘I’m just a single dad, and then all of a sudden, I’m getting death threats on me.’

He also insisted that he has ‘nothing against Meghan Markle’, explaining: ‘I never personally attacked Meghan. I never once did that. I never would do that.

‘I have absolutely zero interest in anything to try and bring her down. My only thing was I didn’t like the show and that was it. It wouldn’t matter if it was Gordon Ramsay, Wolfgang Puck or Donald Duck. I just didn’t like the programme.’

Stocks claimed that he was at New York Fashion Week in February last year when he had a ‘casual conversation’ with two people from Netflix who wanted him to consult on a mystery lifestyle programme which he thought was Meghan’s upcoming series.

He claimed those he met ‘were kind of preparing’ him for the star and the show to be ‘very divisive’, but he ‘shut it down quite quickly’ because it ‘just wasn’t for me’.

But a Netflix production source claimed that With Love, Meghan was not even in development at the time Stocks said he met with the executives – and also denied the chef was ever approached about the show, which came out on March 4.

It comes after Stocks told GB News on Saturday that he rejected an offer to work on the show because he was not sure it would be a good series.

He said in that interview: ‘I was asked last year by Netflix if I wanted to consult on a lifestyle programme. They didn’t go into too much detail about who it was but I already kind of knew anyway.

‘I felt like even if she produced a really great programme – which I was quite sceptical of – that I might get a little bit slammed for being a part of it. I didn’t like the idea of me showing her how to do something and then it being forced and fake.

‘I imagine Netflix would have had two or three consultants – a stylist, for her clothes, to give her ideas for the food.

‘If she is going to do something herself, she should do something herself. Netflix is obviously such a huge company, they’re going to surround her with quality people to make her look good.

‘At the end of the day, they’re trying to chase the money. I honestly thought it was terrible. Everything – the music is quite slow, it’s quite lethargic, it’s quite painful to watch.

‘I think she should go back to acting – she’s quite a good actress. In real life or on screen. People should stick to what they do best.’

However, some of those who worked on the show have spoken out to say it was ‘a lot of fun’.

Director Michael Steed told People: ‘Her cooking is pretty spot-on. She’s not a chef, and it’s definitely not meant to make it seem like she is, but there’s just a love of cooking that is palpable.’

A crew member added that Meghan was ‘warm’, ‘approachable’ and ‘genuine’.

And chef Roy Choi, who appeared on the programme, said about her cooking: ‘She was great. This wasn’t an act, you know? This is something she truly loves to do. She was very natural in the kitchen. She knows how to welcome people – that’s a big part of cooking too.’

Despite the show being savaged by critics, Netflix bosses are pressing ahead with season two which was confirmed by Meghan last Friday. This came three days after the first series aired, after being delayed from January because of the Los Angeles wildfires.

Meghan also officially launched her As Ever brand last week, with her updated website revealing her first products were her raspberry jam, and the flower sprinkles she repeatedly promotes throughout the show.

But the eight-part series, which sees the former Suits actress give hosting tips and cooking with her celebrity friends, has been widely criticised.

One review in The Guardian described it as a ‘gormless lifestyle filler’ and ‘so pointless it might be the Sussexes’ last TV show’, while The Telegraph gave it two stars and branded it ‘insane’ and an ‘exercise in narcissism’. 

Others to have criticised Meghan over the show include comedian Katherine Ryan, who said she was previously ‘rooting’ for the Duchess.

But in her podcast Telling Everybody Everything, Ryan said: ‘I see now, and maybe it’s just the projects she’s choosing, it does feel like she has lied about whether she knew who Prince Harry was, and these details about her childhood change and don’t add up.

‘She said on her new Netflix show that they ate TV dinners growing up. But then in an old interview, she was like, ‘we would eat farm fresh’. Her whole act just seems very manicured and very forced.’

The second season of Meghan’s show is coming in the autumn, and has already finished filming, according to Netflix.

Prince Harry makes just one appearance at the end of the first season’s final episode when he joins Meghan, her mother Doria Ragland and friends for an outdoor celebratory brunch.

In what is being seen as a nod to the restrictions she felt within the royal family, Meghan raises a toast, saying: ‘This feels like a new chapter that I’m so excited that I get to share and I’ve been able to learn from all of you.

‘So I just thank you for all the love and support. And here we go, there’s a business. All of that is just part of that creativity that I’ve missed so much, so thank you for loving me so much and celebrating with me.’

The show is being viewed as a make-or-break moment for the Sussexes, who signed a $100million (£80million) deal with Netflix in 2020, with their most successful output being their controversial Harry & Meghan documentary, which features accusations against the royal family.

The Duchess renamed her lifestyle brand As Ever, switching from the name American Riviera Orchard just weeks before the launch after facing trademarking setbacks, with Netflix now a new partner in her business.

As Ever trademark applications include a vast range of products from shower gels, incense, pet shampoo and gardening trowels to cutlery, stationery, diaries, paper party decorations, wrapping paper, ornamental non-precious stones, bird houses, honey stirrers, jams, marmalades and tea sets.

Before marrying Harry, Meghan closed down her lifestyle website called The Tig.