Meghan Markle Releases First Episode of New Podcast on Spotify — Featuring Pal Serena Williams!
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Meghan Markle's podcast has officially dropped!
After Meghan and Prince Harry announced a "multi-year partnership" between Spotify and their production company Archewell Audio in 2020, the first full episode of Archetypes, hosted by the Duchess of Sussex, was released on Tuesday. Her first guest is longtime pal and tennis champion Serena Williams.
Meghan, 41, opened up the episode by talking about feeling "furious" as an 11-year-old girl when she saw a Procter & Gamble commercial that advertised its dishwashing soap solely to women. She took action by going on a "letter writing campaign" to powerful figures, including then-First Lady Hillary Clinton, and it worked — the company changed the language in the commercial.
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Meghan called the experience an "awakening to the millions of ways, big and small, that our society tries to box women in, to hold women back, to tell women who and what they should and can be. I've never lost touch with that reality, and in the last few years, my desire to do something about it has grown. My 11-year-old voice has also gotten a little more confident — maybe a little louder."
Meghan and Serena's chat revolved around ambition — and how it's a "dirty, dirty word when it comes to women."
"I don't remember ever personally feeling the negative connotation behind the word 'ambitious' until I started dating my now husband," Meghan said. "And um, apparently ambition is, uh… a terrible, terrible thing, for a woman that is — according to some. So, since I've felt the negativity behind it, it's really hard to un-feel it. I can't unsee it, either, in the millions of girls and women who make themselves smaller — so much smaller — on a regular basis."
Before the women get started with their conversation, Prince Harry crashes the interview to say hi to Serena. "I like what you've done with your hair! That's a great vibe," he tells her.
Spotify
Reflecting on ambition, Serena compared how men and women are viewed differently.
"You know, if a man is ambitious, am I saying? Am I bringing down society by saying a woman is something different than ambitious? Or what do I think of women that are ambitious?" the athlete, 40, said. "Often women are definitely put in these different boxes when we are ambitious or when we do have goals or when we reach our goals, it's a negative connotation on how we reach the goals."
Kevin Mazur/Getty Meghan Markle, Serena Williams and Hannah Davis
Serena also talked about balancing her tennis career with the pressures of being a mother to daughter Olympia, 4. She recalled when Olympia broke her wrist the night before she competed at the French Open.
"I somehow managed to win, but I was so emotionally spent and just like so emotionally drained that it was, it was crazy," she said. "And, you know, and then like every night after that, I just was with her the whole time and was like you're going to be with me. I just took a lot on. But moms do a lot. Like I look at my mom, I don't know how she had five kids. I don't know."
Later on Tuesday, Serena shared a black and white photo featuring Meghan and Olympia on Instagram.
"I loved talking about so many important topics with my dear friend Meghan as her first guest on #archetypes for @spotify!" Serena captioned the post. "It's out now and worth the listen, especially if you're ambitious."
The series intends to "investigate the labels that try to hold women back," according to a previously shared press release. Speaking with historians and experts, Meghan will "uncover the origin of these stereotypes and have uncensored conversations with women who know all too well how these typecasts shape narratives."
"This is how we talk about women: the words that raise our girls, and how the media reflects women back to us . . . but where do these stereotypes come from? And how do they keep showing up and defining our lives?" asks Meghan in an audio teaser released in March.
The Duchess of Sussex also previewed the types of guests who will appear throughout the debut season. "This is Archetypes — the podcast where we dissect, explore, and subvert the labels that try to hold women back," she says in the teaser. "I'll have conversations with women who know all too well how these typecasts shape our narratives. And I'll talk to historians to understand how we even got here in the first place."
Next week's guest will be Mariah Carey.
KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Meghan Markle
When their partnership with Spotify was announced in 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex opened up about their love of podcasts — especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
"What we love about podcasting is that it reminds all of us to take a moment and to really listen, to connect to one another without distraction," Harry and Meghan said in a joint statement at the time. "With the challenges of 2020, there has never been a more important time to do so, because when we hear each other, and hear each other's stories, we are reminded of how interconnected we all are."
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
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After sharing a teaser, the couple released their debut podcast episode on Dec. 29, 2020. It featured a starry lineup, including Elton John, Tyler Perry, Stacey Abrams and James Corden, as they reflected on 2020. Meghan and Harry's son, Archie, also made an adorable cameo!
