Meghan Markle’s New Podcast Is A Vanity Project That Robs Women Of What They Really Need

If you’re slightly confused by Meghan and Harry’s podcast history, you aren’t alone. It’s true that the two secured a cushy podcasting deal with media giant Spotify in 2020, with a multi-episode track scheduled to be released under the umbrella of their company Archewell Inc. This deal saw the production of twelve episodes of Meghan’s Archetypes podcast, with celebrity guests like Paris Hilton and Judd Apatow. However, the two companies parted ways in 2023 after a partnership rife with claims of a hostile work environment levied against Meghan and a lack of sturdy ratings attributed to the lackluster, if star-studded, content. Though the announcement included the assertion that the break-up was “mutual,” Spotify executive Bill Simmons later used his own platform to label the Sussexes as “grifters” after allegedly failing to follow through on their end of the $100 million-dollar deal.

This left Meghan shopping for a new distribution home, which she found in Lemonada Media. Lemonada has also produced award-winning projects from the likes of Julia Louis-Dreyfus and has a range of podcasts covering everything from the national opioid crisis to exploring the concept of failure with David Duchovny. As its name suggests, Meghan’s newest endeavor Confessions of a Female Founder is meant to be an intimate, one-on-one exploration of the struggle for achievement and female success through the perspectives of powerhouses dominating their respective fields. She describes it as a conversation of “female entrepreneurs and friends about the sleepless nights, the lessons learned, and the laser focus that got them where they are today.”

But is it? Though any reasonable listener would assume that the podcast is a retrospective on the themes of female stereotypes, maintaining a normative work-life balance, and other challenges that female founders face, the actual execution of those goals is puzzling, to say the least. If you’re hoping to be a female billionaire or an app founder like Meghan’s first guest, former Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd, it’s best to look for insights or advice on how to accomplish those objectives elsewhere.

Meghan’s Narcissism is Showing

Fortunately, you don’t have to get far into the episode to realize quickly that something is amiss. “As opposed to starting with where it all began for you,” Meghan tells both her guest and her listeners, “I want to start with where we first met.” What follows is Wolfe Herd telling the audience, amidst a backdrop of Meghan politely giggling, that she met the Duke and Duchess inappropriately dressed because she was on her way to a New Year’s Eve party. We receive no background on Meghan’s guest, a billionaire and one of the first designers of the modern dating app landscape as we know it. Instead, we’re offered an “intimate” portrait of their cozy relationship, and invited into a carnival funhouse of strange reality-contorting mirrors.

Where there should be depth and honesty, there’s insincerity and a heavily contrived appearance.

Both media experts and basic connoisseurs of podcasts would agree that interviewing is not everyone’s cup of tea, nor are most people naturally gifted at it—no matter how cheap and accessible podcasting equipment may be these days. Meghan asks no questions of Wolfe Herd that don’t also connect to her in some way. The conversation feels pretentious, and stilted at times, instead of raw and keenly honest. But as is Meghan’s customary behavior, alongside her previous podcast, her philanthropic endeavors, her lifestyle brand and her Netflix series, she’s determined to do it whether she’s talented at it or not.

Perhaps that’s the biggest condemnation one could levy both against the podcast and Meghan herself. Meghan’s fortunate enough to have the heavy hitters in her corner—the CEOs, the journalists, the actors, the tech entrepreneurs. But instead of serving her audience something meaningful and original, she’s serving herself. There’s little to no structure to the episode, which works for some productions. But that’s also because there’s no substance. Where there should be depth and honesty, there’s insincerity and a heavily contrived appearance. Where there should be practical guidance about success, how to organize your days as a working mom, how to manage a start-up or even bring one to life, how to find investors, there’s excessive praise and a fawning conversation that could’ve happened in line at a coffee shop as opposed to a podcast platform.

It Looks Like Girlboss Feminism is Alive & Well

We may have thought the “trad wife” movement was successful enough to usurp the girlboss archetype but if Confessions of a Female Founder is any indication, the girlboss is alive and well, and she lives in a mansion in Montecito.

In one particular anecdote, Meghan recounts that when her daughter Lilibet wakes up from a nap, she’ll often interrupt Meghan’s meetings with “executives” because the toddler knows where her mother’s office is and comes in, even when her door is closed. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way!” gushes Meghan. Any working mom who’s actually experienced this would likely say that it’s awkward, even if you laugh about it in the break room after the fact. But Meghan is just built differently. Juggling kids and a marriage to a high-profile man is effortless to her, even though having money and childcare probably don’t hurt, either.

Whitney Wolfe Herd, too, has children, but she doesn’t necessarily offer wisdom on how to combat others’ perceptions of both being a mom and a billionaire, nor does she offer any counsel to young, ambitious women on how to navigate a dating world that she quite literally created. We’re not given directions on how to prioritize family in a fast-paced lifestyle, or how to approach discussing your professional goals with your spouse. Instead, there’s a conversation about which packing material Meghan should use for the artisanal jam her lifestyle brand supplies. It’s this kind of absurdity that taints the conversation with an air of contrived superiority, and not the honesty that women who seek success need to hear.

The overall tone of the near-sixty minute episode could be described as a staggering effort to uphold the girlboss standard. This does make some logical sense, in that both Meghan and her guest are millennials and that’s the flavor of feminism that they know and love. But while it’s easy to conjure an image of Meghan in yoga pants and a messy bun in an impeccably curated home office dotted with toys, it’s also a straightforward realization that Meghan may be “relatable,” but she’s not obtainable. Knowledge of who she really is behind the public-facing facade—which could actually endear listeners to her insight rather than alienate them—is still a close-kept secret, and while she may be married to a prince and live in a mansion, she’s still a working mom. Just like you and me.

Confessions of a Female Founder isn’t a character study of success and ambition, but one of mediocrity and even narcissism.

Women with dreams and ambitions are often told that they’ll achieve their goals just by “working hard” or wanting it enough, or even by sacrificing their personal lives. In Meghan Markle’s case, instead of breaking down the barrier on what it really means to work and to create while building a family, she’s turning around and selling a beige brand of hustle culture to her audience, with her own trademarked logo stamped on it.

Confessions of a Female Founder isn’t a character study of success and ambition, but one of mediocrity and even narcissism. What’s worse is that there are genuinely women out there looking for role models, for guidance, for girl-to-girl advice on how to make it and become a founder themselves. But if the first episode is anything to go by, you won’t find that with the Duchess of Sussex.