Featuring Pal Serena Williams!! Meghan Markle Releases First Episode Of Long Awaited Spotify Podcast
Featuring Pal Serena Williams!! Meghan Markle Releases First Episode Of Long Awaited Spotify Podcast
Updated on August 23, 2022 20:23 PM by Anthony Christian
Meghan Markle’s Podcast 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 long-time 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.
Meghan called the experience an awakening to the many ways, big and small that our society tries to box women in, hold them back, and tell them who and what they should and can be. I've never lost touch with that reality, and my desire to do something about it in the last few years has grown. My 11-year-old voice has also gotten a little more confident, maybe a little louder.
Meghan And Serena’s Chat Around Ambition
Meghan and Serena's chat revolved around ambition and how it's a dirty word regarding 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 thing, for a woman that is, according to some. So, since I've felt the negativity behind it, it's hard to un-feel it. I can't unsee it, either, in the millions of girls and women who regularly make themselves smaller, so much smaller.
Before the women start 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. 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 ambitious women? the athlete, 40, said. Often women are 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.
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Serena's Tennis Career With Pressure
Serena also talked about balancing her tennis career with the pressures of being a mother to her daughter Olympia, 4. She recalled Olympia breaking her wrist the night she competed at the French Open.
I somehow managed to win, but I was so emotionally spent and just like so emotionally drained, it was crazy, she said. And, you know, and then like every night after that, I 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. When I look at my mom, I don't know how she had five kids. I don't know.
Stereotypes And Uncensored Conversations
According to a previously shared press release, the series intends to investigate the labels that try to hold women back. 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 to us; however, 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 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.
Serena will have conversations with women who know all too well how these typecasts shape our narratives. And she talks to historians to understand how we even got here in the first place.
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Spotify 2020 Announcement
When they announced their partnership with Spotify 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 listen, to connect without distraction, Harry and Meghan said in a 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.
After sharing a teaser, the couple released their debut podcast episode on Dec. 29, 2020. It featured a starry line-up, 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!