The scene: a five-star hotel perched on Sydney’s glittering Coogee Beach. The vibe: “intimate luxury weekend by the ocean.” The price tag: $3,199 Australian dollars—or roughly £1,700, or approximately one month’s rent for a Sydney apartment, depending on who you ask .
Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, is coming to town. And she’s brought her manifesting journals, her sound healing bowls, and a PR firestorm that has Australians clutching their wallets and their opinions.
The three-day “Her Best Life Retreat,” organized by the events company Besties and hosted by podcast presenter Gemma O’Neill, promises yoga by the sea, meditation sessions, a gala dinner, and—for those willing to part with the VIP premium—a “group table photo” with the Duchess herself . It’s April 17-19, it’s for 300 women, and it has officially become the most polarizing ticket in the Southern Hemisphere .
But here’s where this story gets truly delicious: the woman whose name is on the company that’s organizing this whole affair wants absolutely nothing to do with it. And the internet, as you might imagine, has opinions.
The Price of Admission: What $3,200 Actually Gets You
Let’s start with the math, because the numbers are doing a lot of the heavy lifting in this drama.
Early bird tickets start at A$2,699 (£1,400). But if you want the full “VIP experience”—which includes front-row seats at the gala dinner, a premium ocean-view room, an exclusive goodie bag, and that group photo—you’re looking at A$3,199 (£1,700) per person .
For context, that’s more than the average weekly wage in Australia. It’s roughly the cost of four all-inclusive week-long trips to Bali, according to one incredulous Redditor . It’s enough money to make even the most devoted royal fan pause and wonder: what, exactly, am I paying for?
The event description is heavy on aspirational language and light on specifics. Attendees can expect “powerful conversations, relaxation, laughter and unforgettable experiences” . There will be a session with psychologist Dr. Justine Corry, yoga, sound healing, a meditation and manifestation workshop with O’Neill, and a dinner-disco combo that presumably tests whether you can dance after a day of spiritual awakening .
And then there’s Meghan. The Duchess will participate in a “fireside chat” with O’Neill during the gala dinner, sharing wisdom gleaned from a life that has included Hollywood stardom, royal duties, and enough tabloid coverage to fill the British Library .
The Organizer’s Defense: “She’s Doing This as a Favour”
Gemma O’Neill, the Her Best Life podcast host who will be sharing that stage with Meghan, seems almost as surprised as everyone else that this is happening.
“I have admired this woman and what she has endured, how she’s risen above it, and how she has demonstrated how a woman can be pushed down and she can still rise,” O’Neill told listeners after announcing the event .
But the really interesting part came when O’Neill explained how this collaboration came to be. According to her, a mutual friend was at Meghan’s house, mentioned O’Neill’s podcast, and the Duchess—perhaps intrigued by the concept of women supporting women—agreed to participate.
“She’s effectively doing this as a favour because of our mutual friend,” O’Neill said . She added that Meghan initially had reservations and nearly turned down the offer, but ultimately decided that O’Neill’s podcast audience “deserved it” .
That framing—”as a favour”—has become a lightning rod. Critics note that the event is projected to generate nearly $1 million in ticket revenue . Even if Meghan isn’t pocketing the full “favour” rate, the optics of a multi-million dollar “favour” are, shall we say, complicated.
One cynical observer put it this way: “She doesn’t say explicitly Meghan is doing it for free but in advance of comments about ‘wow that must cost a lot’ she says she doesn’t have that sort of money and that it’s ‘effectively as a favour’ (but gross sales for this event would be like close to $1M). I’m betting that means ‘my usual rate would be $1M but I’ll do it for $250K’ or something” .
The Snub Heard ‘Round the World
And then there’s Jackie “O” Henderson.
The Australian radio queen, whose company Besties co-founded the event with O’Neill, has reportedly decided to sit this one out entirely .
O’Neill revealed on her podcast that she “tried to beg” Henderson to co-host the retreat. Henderson was “adamant” in her refusal .
“She said: ‘No, Gemma. You need to do this for yourself. This is meant to be for you,'” O’Neill explained .
On the surface, it’s a sweet gesture—a business partner stepping aside to let her friend have the spotlight. But in the context of Meghan’s polarizing public image, Henderson’s absence reads differently to some observers. It’s hard not to wonder whether the radio star, who has spent decades building a beloved media career in Australia, simply didn’t want her name attached to an event that was guaranteed to generate controversy.
Henderson did, at least, offer public support on Instagram, commenting on O’Neill’s announcement post: “Incredible Gem… definitely living your best life” . But support from a distance is still distance.
The Internet Reacts: Buckle Up
If you thought the price tag was controversial, wait until you meet the comment section.
On X (formerly Twitter), the backlash has been swift and savage. “This is so much more pathetic than we thought! Meghan Markle is merching a wellness spa and hotel while using her children’s titles!” one user fumed .
Another wrote: “For $3,000 I’d want her to come around to my house and cook me dinner and then cut it up and feed it to me before she does the dishes and my laundry and then vacuums the house. She can wash the car too. Three Grand!!! P*** off” .
A third added: “Who the f*** would spend $3,000 to listen to her—a failure by every metric, only good at using many words and saying nothing” .
On Reddit, the discourse has been slightly more measured but no less critical. One user noted the disconnect between the event’s “wellness” branding and its commercial reality: “Women’s empowerment shouldn’t intersect with capitalist greed. … her brand of ‘feminism’ is adjacent to those ‘girl boss’ elitist white women of the 2010s” .
Another Australian resident put it bluntly: “This is just freaking gross. What happened to the ‘philanthropy’? … I live in Aus and $3k is like 4 all-inclusive week-long trips to Bali for us” .
To be fair, there are also defenders. “Lovely wish I could be there,” one fan wrote on Instagram . Another chimed in with “Cool! Go Meghan! You Rock!” . A third simply declared “Lady boss” . But these voices are decidedly in the minority amid the digital outrage.
The Timing: A Perfect Storm of Bad News
Here’s where this story gets even more interesting. Meghan’s Sydney retreat announcement comes at a particularly awkward moment in her professional trajectory.
Just days earlier, her lifestyle brand As ever announced it had ended its partnership with Netflix . The streaming giant, which signed Meghan and Harry to a reported $100 million deal in 2020, quietly pulled the plug on her cookery show With Love, Meghan after two series and a Christmas special that “did not perform well with audiences” .
The Netflix deal was supposed to be the foundation of the Sussexes’ post-royal media empire. Its quiet dissolution—without fanfare, without announcement, just a business relationship ending—speaks volumes about the challenges Meghan has faced in translating her personal brand into commercial success.
Against that backdrop, a paid appearance at a Sydney women’s retreat starts to look less like a passion project and more like a strategic pivot. As one royal watcher put it: “This has the same energy as selling $50 photo ops at a Suits fan convention. No shame in the hustle but a big come down from where she was” .
The Split-Screen Sussexes: Harry’s Charitable Contrast
Perhaps the most awkward element of this whole saga is the contrast it creates with Prince Harry’s plans for the same Australian trip.
While Meghan takes the stage at Coogee Beach, Harry will be in Melbourne headlining the InterEdge Psychosocial Safety Summit on April 15-16 . His event focuses on workplace mental health and supports Lifeline Narrm. And crucially, every cent of the proceeds from his summit goes directly to crisis support services .
Harry’s tickets aren’t cheap—they range from $1,978 to $2,378—but the messaging is starkly different. One half of the Sussex power couple is raising money for charity. The other half is facing accusations of “money scrounging” for a luxury girls’ weekend.
The split-screen image is devastating. It’s also completely unintentional, which somehow makes it worse.
What’s Next: The Questions That Remain
As of this writing, Meghan has not commented publicly on the backlash. Her representatives have confirmed that the April trip to Australia will involve “private, business and philanthropic engagements” . How this retreat fits into that description remains unclear.
A few questions linger:
- Will the event sell out? With 300 spots available and nearly $1 million in potential revenue at stake, ticket sales will be the ultimate referendum on Meghan’s appeal .
- Will Jackie “O” change her mind? Probably not, but her absence will be noted by anyone attending.
- What does this mean for the Sussexes’ brand? After the Netflix deal fizzled and with Archewell’s output remaining sporadic, paid appearances like this may become more common.
The Bottom Line
Meghan Markle’s Sydney retreat is many things: a business venture, a personal appearance, a “favour” to a friend, and a lightning rod for criticism. But above all, it’s a reflection of where the Duchess finds herself in 2026.
She’s no longer a working royal. She’s no longer a Netflix darling. She’s a woman with a famous face, a complicated history, and a need to translate both into something sustainable. If that means posing for group photos at $3,000 a pop on a beach in Sydney, so be it.
The question—the one that will determine whether this is a one-off or a new direction—is whether anyone will actually show up.
Early bird registration is open now. The meditation mats are waiting. And somewhere in Sydney, Jackie “O” Henderson is presumably enjoying a quiet weekend at home, very glad she said no…
BY SHOWBIZZTODAY’S (DOWN UN-DER) NICOLAS FERNN