New documents filed with the US Trademark and Patent Office show that Meghan Markle is interested in reviving her old Goop-adjacent lifestyle blog, according to papers obtained by the New York Post and the Mirror.
According to the reports, Markle plans to launch a “revamped” version of her website The Tig, which she shut down in 2017 after getting engaged to Prince Harry.
The papers show that The Tig 2.0 will focus on “food, cooking, recipes, travel, relationships, fashion, style, interior design, lifestyle, the arts, culture, design, conscious living, health and wellness”. It will also feature “commentary in the field of personal relationships”.
But what exactly was The Tig the first time around, and what can we expect from its revival? Are we in store for an article titled “The 6 Best Face Creams To Help Cure Penis Frostbite”? Here’s the lowdown.
Introducing The Tig
The Tig was Markle’s lifestyle blog which she founded circa 2014, while she was filming Suits and around a year before she met Prince Harry. It was all very Gwyneth Paltrow, with a wellness focus, and covered topics such as travel, fashion, beauty and self-love.
Markle wrote the majority of the posts herself. However, she occasionally used guest writers to pen certain entries, such as her “Insider’s guides” for travel — including one for London — but we’ll get to that.
The name The Tig comes from Markle’s favourite red wine, Tignanello. This is the first red wine she properly enjoyed — an “aha” moment for her, which she has since coined as a “Tig moment”.
She told Emirates Woman in 2015: “I had a sip of this wine six or seven years ago and it was the first time that I understood what people meant when they said ‘the body’, ‘the legs’, or ‘structure’ of wine. It was such an ‘Oh, I get it’ kind of moment that for me it became a ‘Tig moment’ — that became my nickname for these “aha’s.”
The Tig shutdown
When Markle shut down The Tig in 2017, she posted a farewell message to her readers. She mentioned these “Tig moments” once again, in what fans thought would be her final sign-off.
“What began as a passion project (my little engine that could) evolved into an amazing community of inspiration, support, fun and frivolity,” she wrote. “You've made my days brighter and filled this experience with so much joy. Keep finding those Tig moments of discovery, keep laughing and taking risks, and keep being ‘the change you wish to see in the world.’”
Other than this, the duchess has never properly addressed the death of The Tig. Royal biographers Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand say the decision to shut the website down came after Markle faced “intense media scrutiny”. This was a topic which she and Prince Harry addressed in their Netflix documentary.
As soon as The Tig was shut down, all of the site’s posts also disappeared. Luckily, eagle-eyed royalists had already preserved them all (you can always count on these guys to be three steps ahead) — so here’s a taste of The Tig.
Self-love
On Valentine’s Day 2015, Markle penned a post on the importance of loving yourself, in a tone we are now very familiar with. “This Valentine’s Day, I will be with friends, running amock through the streets of New York, likely imbibing some cocktail that’s oddly pink, and jumping over icy mounds in my new shoes through the salted snowy streets of the West Village.”
“But those shoes, by the way, were my gift to myself. Because I’ve worked hard, because I’m not going to wait for someone to buy me the things I covet (nor do I want to), and because I want to treat myself as well as I treat those dearest to me. Because I am my own funny Valentine.
“Whether you have a special someone, you’ll be with friends, or you’ll be flying solo this Saturday (or any other day for that matter), be good to yourself. Love yourself, treat yourself, honour yourself and celebrate you. Be your own beautiful, darling, cherished and funny Valentine. You deserve it.”
Life before fame
In another post, Markle addressed her life before Suits fame, referencing a time where she was trying to Eat Pray Love her way through life. “It wasn't long ago (cough — about ten years ago — cough) that I only had $40 in my bank account, that I could barely book an audition, and that my circle of friends was even smaller. But even then, without all the pomp and circumstance, I made time to celebrate my life,” she wrote.
“Maybe it was a pizza and bottle of two buck chuck from Trader Joe's with a couple girlfriends, tucked in for the night sitting on my living room floor. Or maybe it was a dance party in my tiny apartment or a sobbing session to purge all of those feels with my nearest and dearest. This is all part of the eat, pray, love journey. Being present. Being vulnerable. The act of celebrating and really truly enjoying your life.”
Travel
In one of the few posts not written by Markle, she recruited an “Insider” to give their thoughts on London life, and all the best tips and tricks on where to go, to eat, drink and — direct quote — “frolic”. This included recommendations for Chiltern Firehouse, The Wolseley and Columbia Road Flower Market.
Markle also employed guest writers to write other “Insider’s guides” for locations such as Kyoto, Marrakech and Milan. Markle wrote the Toronto one herself, in which she recommended wine bars, gluten-free bakeries and a restaurant called Fresh. She said the latter had plenty of “clean eats and yummy vegan fare” to help remind her of her LA roots.
She also wrote personal entries on her holidays, including trips to Jamaica, New Zealand and Croatia. In her account of travelling to Negril, Jamaica, she recalled drinking Red Stripe and eating grilled chicken, “where my best accessory was always the jerk sauce covering my face after a perfect meal”.
Fashion
Fashion was one of the main motivators behind The Tig, something Markle mentioned to Emirates Woman about why she set it up. “I remember trying on this outfit at a fitting for a Miu Miu event,” she said, “and it felt like I’d just had a glass of champagne, I felt giddy and excited and buzzy and it was just from trying on clothes and that was really such an Aha moment, a Tig moment, for me [...] Fashion can be absolutely transformative, it changes your mood, and there’s something really powerful in that.”
During her time running The Tig, Markle wrote posts on vintage fashion trends, the costume design behind Suits, “Bohemian Bourgeois” style, and the Met Gala.
In her 2014 post about the Met Gala, ‘Belle of the Met Ball’, she applauds the designer Charles James (who was the inspiration behind the theme that year), saying: "Perhaps it's the girly girl in me. Maybe it's the fact that if given the choice between punk and pretty, I will always vote for pretty. For women looking like ladies. For the opportunity to wow with class and grace and fairytale level ball gown beauty.”
Is The Tig coming back?
Markle has renewed the trademark for The Tig before, yet it has never ushered in a full revival. This is because the renewal is more to do with preventing fraud than fresh starts. “The lasting trademark is to prevent false branding, to avoid others purporting to be the Duchess or affiliated with her,” a spokesperson for Markle said last time she renewed the trademark.
But, as The Cut noted earlier this week: a lot has changed for Markle since she shut down the blog in 2017. “Our funny Galentine is in a different position now, having taken her final curtsy as a working royal three years ago,” The Cut article reads. “She and Harry preside over a burgeoning entertainment empire, which includes a podcast and books and Netflix docs and a lot of oversharing. No better way to best the media than by becoming the media, so why not add a blog to the roster?” Why not! Here’s hoping The Tig will be making a comeback, this time even tigger and better than ever.
