Meghan finally agrees to actually do her $34m podcast

The Duchess of Sussex has announced her Spotify podcast will happen later this year, almost two years after she signed her $34 million contract.

Meghan Markle will resume production of her Spotify podcast, nearly two years after she signed a lucrative deal with the streaming service.

According to The Daily Mail, the audio series will premiere later this year. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Archewell foundation announced the news in a statement.

“As we all continue to tackle the misinformation era, Archewell Audio has found it important to work with our partners at Spotify to ensure that the digital technologies so many of us use every day are rooted in strong principles of trust and safety,” the statement said.

“We are encouraged by ongoing conversations we’ve had with Spotify on this shared goal and have been working closely with their team — as well as their senior leadership — towards policies, practices, and strategies meant to raise creator awareness, minimise the spread of misinformation, and support transparency.

“As we move forward at Archewell Audio, we too are eager to be responsible stewards of an audio landscape that is well-resourced with quality, fact-based information — particularly when it comes to public health.’”

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Meghan Markle will resume production of her Spotify podcast. Picture: Angela Weiss/AFP

The announcement comes two months after the royal couple were under pressure to ditch their exclusive partnership with the streaming giant, understood to be worth about $34 million.

At the time, the pair released a statement that they spoke with Spotify bosses about their concerns following the controversy over podcaster Joe Rogan and Covid misinformation.

“Since the inception of Archewell, we have worked to address the real-time global misinformation crisis,” they said.

“Hundreds of millions of people are affected by the serious harms of mis- and disinformation every day.

“Last April, our co-founders began expressing concerns to our partners at Spotify about the all too real consequences of Covid misinformation on its platform.

“We have continued to express our concerns to Spotify to ensure changes to its platform are made to help address this public health crisis.

“We look to Spotify to meet this moment and are committed to continuing our work together as it does.”

Megan and Harry also signed a massive deal with Netflix. Picture: Angela Weiss/AFP

The former Suits actress and her husband announced their partnership with Spotify in December 2020.

The podcast’s first episode debuted on December 29 2020, featuring celebrities and a cameo from the couple’s two-year-old son, Archie.

The duo also inked a deal with Netflix in 2020 but have yet to produce content for the TV streaming service.

Royal author Pauline Maclaren believes the couple may have overwhelmed themselves with projects.

“Certainly, there is a lot of doubt now surrounding their abilities to produce content at the level and quality required for both media outlets,” she recently told Express of their deals with Spotify and Netflix.

“Of course, we have to recognise that producing content does not just happen overnight and high-quality programs will take many months/years to generate.”

— With The Sun and Page Six