Claims Meghan Markle ‘faked’ Archewell podcast interviews

As the fallout from her “break-up” with Spotify grows, allegations about Meghan Markle’s controversial podcast have resurfaced.

As the fallout from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s break-up with Spotify grows, the Duchess of Sussex has been accused of faking interviews for her Archewell podcast.

Podnews has reported that some of the show’s interviews were conducted by producers on Meghan’s team and audio of her voice asking the questions was clipped in later.

Speculation that Meghan was not interviewing her guests was rife last August when writer Allison Yarrow shared on Instagram that she was “excited to be included in the visionary series.”

Meghan Markle is accused of ‘faking’ her Archewell podcast interviews. Picture: AFP

The post showed Yarrow posing in front of a sign for the audio production house Gimlet Media and included a shout out to an Archetypes producer for being “an excellent interviewer”.

Meghan’s podcast produced just 12 episodes in a $29m contract.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that she may not earn the full amount after not meeting productivity clauses.

The pair’s lucrative deal with streaming giant Spotify has collapsed. Picture: AFP

The claims come shortly after Spotify and Archewell said in a joint statement that they have “mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together.”

A source previously told The New York Post that the Sussexes’ Archewell media company failed to produce enough content to receive the full payout of the $20m deal they agreed to in 2020.

However, “Meghan is continuing to develop more content for the Archetypes audience on another platform,” an Archewell Productions spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal.

Spotify executive and popular podcaster Bill Simmons slammed the couple after the deal collapsed, saying he once met with Prince Harry about podcast ideas and calling the pair “f–king grifters” in Friday’s episode of his namesake podcast.

“I wish I had been involved in the ‘Meghan and Harry leave Spotify’ negotiation,” Simmons said on his self-titled podcast.

“‘The F--king Grifters.’ That’s the podcast we should have launched with them. I have got to get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to try and help him with a podcast idea. It’s one of my best stories … F--k them. The grifters.”

It comes amid claims Prince Harry “used” King Charles’ historic coronation to plug Meghan’s reported burgeoning deal with French fashion house, Dior.

And in the wake of the Spotify disaster, a public relations expert has said that the couple are figuring out it’s “easier to be a clothes horse than an issues warrior”.

PR expert Mark Borkowski told the Daily Mail that’s it’s not confirmed whether a Dior deal has yet been signed off.

“It shows that they have great power in fashion and they are wanted by fashion houses. It is easier to be a clothes horse than an issues warrior,” he said.

Originally published as Claims Meghan Markle ‘faked’ Archewell podcast interviews