Meghan Markle’s half-sister Samantha slams podcast Archetypes

Samantha Markle has reacted to half-sister Meghan Markle’s new podcast and – staying true to her style – she didn’t hold back.

Meghan Markle’s half-sister has weighed in on the Duchess of Sussex’s debut podcast accusing the former Suits actress of “self-glorifying“ and being “dismissive” of Prince Harry.

Nearly two years after signing an exclusive podcast deal with audio giant Spotify, the first series from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Archewell Audio debuted on the service on Tuesday in the US.

By Thursday the show had dethroned Joe Rogan’s “The Joe Rogan Experience” from his no.1 slot on Spotify’s US podcast chart.

The hour-long first episode featured Ms Markle, the 41-year-old host of the series, in conversation with tennis legend Serena Williams, 40, who announced her decision to retire from the sport earlier this month.

In the episode, ‘The Misconception of Ambition with Serena Williams’, the Duchess of Sussex spoke to her sports star friend about double standards women face and drew on her experience of being criticised for being “ambitious” when she started dating Prince Harry.

Meghan Markle has launched a podcast show and it’s getting a mixed reaction.

Following the show, Ms Markle was accused of hamming up a story about her son having escaped serious injury in a fire when he was a baby on a royal family visit to South Africa.

Archie’s then nanny – named only as Lauren – was looking after the tot in a house in Nyanga and took the boy out of the room before a heater caught ablaze.

Ms Markle explained how she was then separated from her son and forced to attend a royal engagement.

But Samantha isn’t buying it.

“I have to say in several of the photographs I saw, Serena Williams seems to take her daughter with her everywhere she goes,” she told GB News’ Dan Wootton Tonight.

“And I’ve seen many jetsetters who take their children with them.

“I wasn’t really sure what all of that we had to leave, you know, the kids behind was all about. I didn’t really believe it.”

The first episode featured retired tennis ace Serena Williams, pictured with her daughter and the Duchess. Picture: Instagram

Samantha also accused her sibling of being “rather lofty” in her claim that she was “able to align with issues of womanhood and suffering on the grounds that she went to Immaculate Heart School where she was empowered by the nuns to be independent women”.

She asked: “But who paid for that?”, adding, “That was all my dad. So let’s face it, we’re not raised in a vacuum. There are others who help us along the way, who support us and who pay for everything that gives us that platform which was our father”

She also accused Meghan of “self-glorifying”.

“Most women are raised to be ambitious,” Samantha said.

“But I think there’s been a lot of public scrutiny around how some go about climbing the ladder.”

Samantha also believes Prince Harry has been left to “play second fiddle” since his 2018 marriage to Meghan.

Samantha Markle has been vocal about her royal half-sis. Picture: Fox13

The Duke makes a brief appearance in the podcast, poking his head at the door to say hello and calling Williams hair-do a “vibe” before leaving.

Asked whether she felt Meghan had “emasculated” Prince Harry, Samantha said: “Harry seems to play second fiddle. It didn’t hurt to use the title and the royal marriage as a springboard but after the wedding was over it feels as though Harry is in the shadow.”

“It was kind of like, ‘Oh let’s let him pop in’. The whole thing felt very staged.

“Why have him in at all if he’s not being included? It just seemed very dismissive and I felt, insulting – rather than have him included and them both talk about what’s important to them in their lives now.

“It was really just a lot of feminine chitchat and purring.”

Next week’s episode will feature a conversation with Mariah Carey, according to Spotify.

In addition to the couple’s deal with Spotify, Archewell Productions has an exclusive deal with Netflix.

Ms Markle and Prince Harry officially quit their royal roles in February 2021, four months before daughter Lilibet, now one, was born.

The family of four now lives in Montecito, California.

Originally published as Meghan Markle’s half-sister Samantha slams podcast Archetypes