Meghan Markle has hit back at those who criticized her for being “ambitious” when she first started dating Prince Harry, in the first episode of her ‘Archetypes’ podcast which was released on Spotify today.
Titled ‘The Misconception of Ambition with Serena Williams’, the Duchess of Sussex spoke to the tennis legend, who is one of her close friends, about the double standards women face when they called “ambitious”.
She also opened up about the “pain” she has endured “behind closed doors” and revealed her son Archie narrowly escaped a fire in his bedroom where he was supposed to be sleeping during the Sussexes’ tour of the South – africa
Meghan said, “Now, look, I’m not Catholic. I wasn’t raised Catholic. But about a year after my letter-writing campaign, I started middle school at Immaculate Heart (in Los Angeles). M “I stayed there, all the way through high school. I was there for six years. And that feminist ideology seeped into almost every aspect of my education.”
“It’s probably safe to say in every aspect of my life. That message to me and my peers was clear: Our future as young women was limitless. Ambition. Well, that was the whole point.
“So I don’t ever remember personally feeling the negative connotation behind the word ambitious, until I started dating my now-husband. And apparently ambition is a terrible, terrible thing. For a woman that is, according some.
“So because I felt the negativity behind it, it’s very hard not to feel it. I also don’t see it in the millions of girls and women who get smaller, much smaller on a regular basis.
“So I wanted to talk to someone who embodies the spirit of ambition to see how she thinks about the word and the connotation, and how the other labels that affect all women have affected her as well.”
Speaking to Williams, Meghan also said: “In our friendship, when you have to see things that characterize me poorly, but you experience behind closed doors the pain that I’m going through.
“What I think is so interesting is that even though this is on a world stage, I don’t know if this feels very different for any woman. If you’re in a small town and you see someone say something about the your best friend who is completely fake, how does it feel.
“Thinking about these archetypes, but it’s the kind of thing that you and I both talk about, these boxes and these labels, the things that we’ve both been called to and we’ve witnessed what they’re called.”
Meghan added: “As you heard from my chat with my dear friend, the notion of ambition comes with a lot of judgment and nuance, especially for women.
‘The misconception that if you are an ambitious woman, you have an agenda, you must be calculating, selfish or aggressive, or a climber.
“And that if you’re so fierce or strong or brave, you somehow deserve what’s thrown at you, no matter how disproportionate or unfair it is, and even when it’s more than most could bear. Most men, most anyone.
A photograph of Meghan Markle released with the first episode of her ‘Archetypes’ podcast which was released today on Spotify
Titled ‘The misconception of Ambition with Serena Williams’, the Duchess of Sussex spoke to the tennis star on the podcast
Speaking about her guests, who will also include Mariah Carey next week, Meghan said: “All of them have in some way borne the brunt of the labels that we’re going to separate, and of course I know a thing or two about those labels. myself.
Meghan, 41, and Williams, 40, also shared personal stories about the struggles they’ve faced as new moms.
At one point, the Duchess told how her son Archie narrowly escaped a fire in his bedroom where he was supposed to sleep during the Sussexes’ tour of South Africa.
Archie’s nanny at the time, named only as Lauren, had taken the four-and-a-half-month-old with her downstairs while she went for a snack when, meanwhile, the nursery’s heater went off catch fire.
Meghan said: “In that period of time that she came down the stairs, the heater in the nursery caught fire. There was no smoke detector. Someone smelled smoke down the hall, came in, the fire went out .He was supposed to be sleeping in there.
The former Suits star told how they left their young son in the housing unit they were staying in for a sleepover just after arriving on their official tour, with Meghan and the Duke of Sussex heading off for a visit in Nyanga Township, where the Duchess delivered a speech.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games The Hague 2020 at the Zuiderpark in the Netherlands on April 16, 2022
Meghan Markle and Serena Williams in New York City in 2014
Serena Williams and her husband Alexis Ohanian at Windsor Castle for the wedding of Meghan and Prince Harry in May 2018
‘There was a moment where I’m standing on a tree stump and I’m giving this speech to women and girls, and we finish the engagement, get in the car and they say there’s been a fire at the residence. What? There was a fire in the baby’s room,” he said.
Meghan added: “We’re back. And of course as a mum you’re like, ‘Oh my God, what?’ Everybody’s in tears, everybody’s shaken up. And what are we supposed to do? Go out and make another official commitment? I said, ‘This doesn’t make any sense.’
Harry also makes an appearance in the episode, with Meghan saying: “Want to come say hi? Look who just came in.
Meghan and Williams greet Harry with ‘Hello’ in British accents, with Harry telling Williams: ‘I like what you’ve done with your hair. It’s a great vibe.’
Williams replies: “Thank you. Nice to see you as always, I miss you.
The Duke replies “Well, come see us”, with Meghan saying they’ll make a plan.
As Harry leaves, Meghan comments: “Thank you my love.”
Williams also revealed that Harry helped her with the decision to retire from tennis long before it was announced, spending around an hour discussing the issue with her.
Meghan, who left the monarchy as a senior royal worker, said: “I think, you know, I think both of us, or all three of us, really know that sometimes the right decision is not the easiest decision.”
She told Williams, “It takes a lot of courage, I think, too, to stop something in many ways than to continue sometimes.”
The Archewell Foundation announced earlier this year that the pair’s Spotify podcast would finally debut this summer, 18 months after they signed the lucrative deal.
Archetypes is hosted by Meghan, who will talk to historians, experts and women who have experienced being typecast.
In an earlier trailer for the Archewell Audio project, the Duchess said: “This is how we talk about women – the words our girls raise and how the media reflects women back to us. But where do these stereotypes come from? And how do they continue to appear and define our lives?’.
Previewing the kind of guests to appear, the Duchess added: “This is Archetypes – the podcast where we dissect, explore and subvert the labels that try to hold women back.
“I’ll talk to women who know all too well how these types of typography shape our narratives. And I’ll talk to historians to understand how we got here in the first place.
Meghan and Harry signed a lucrative deal with the streaming audio giant to host and produce podcasts, estimated to be worth around £18m, in late 2020.
But they’ve only released one show before now — a holiday special with son Archie and celebrity guests — in December 2020.
Meghan has long been an advocate for female empowerment. Spotify and Archewell Audio described her conversations with typecast women as “uncensored” and said the Duchess would delve into the origins of stereotypes.
Former Suits actress Meghan is also executive producing the series, along with Ben Browning, Archewell’s Head of Content, and Rebecca Sananes, Archewell’s Head of Audio.
The podcast is being produced by Archewell Audio in partnership with Gimlet Media for Spotify.