California
Meghan Markle filming Netflix show on California cannabis farm embroiled in controversy: report
One of the filming locations for Meghan Markle’s highly-anticipated cooking show is reportedly a cannabis farm marred by controversy.
The Duchess of Sussex, 42, has been shooting the Netflix series in two California locations: a $5 million home in Montecito belonging to Tom and Sherrie Cipolla and a farm owned by the cannabis-supplying Van Wingerden family in the nearby seaside city of Carpinteria, the Daily Mail reported.
The Van Wingerdens are the area’s largest vendors of legally produced cannabis, according to the website.
Markle’s film location, dubbed Farmlane, is owned by David and Cindy Van Wingerden, who turned their flower farm into a marijuana mecca in 2015. They now sell cannabis flowers and pre-rolled cannabis joints.
But the Van Wingerden family’s operation and other cannabis farms have had the neighborhood up in arms over the pungent weed fragrance contaminating the air.
Local Carpinteria residents filed 2,340 odor complaints from mid-2018 to 2022, according to the website.
In September, homeowners in the area filed a class-action lawsuit against two weed farms, unrelated to the Van Wingerden’s business, with claims that their property values had been severely damaged due to the “sewer-like” smells.
“The neighborhood surrounding their property has a thick, heavy, strong stench of cannabis on a near daily basis,” the lawsuit states.
Angry citizens said their homes and clothes reeked of marijuana and that some people were experiencing breathing problems, headaches and nausea.
Page Six confirmed in March that the former “Suits” actress would collaborate on a Martha Stewart-esque show tying into her newly launched lifestyle brand, Montecito Riviera Orchard.
The wife of Prince Harry has already debuted the first product of her cookware and home needs company with a jar of strawberry jam sent to her closest high-powered friends.
An insider told Page Six Style at the time that the business would focus on home, garden, food and general lifestyle wares.
“She’s been working on this for over a year, and it’s all the things that are close to her heart — all the things she’s passionate about,” an industry source said.
A trademark application obtained by Page Six Style revealed that the company would sell cookbooks, an assortment of edible treats like jellies and spreads and tableware staples like cutlery, table linens, drinkware and more.