Who wants to be a billionaire? Meghan talks money

The Duchess of Sussex has claimed she was taught to feel guilty about having money.

In the latest episode of her podcast, Meghan, 43, said women are “taught to not even talk about money, and there’s lots of guilt mentality surrounding having a lot”.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wants to empower women to enjoy their money and success.Credit: Getty Images for TIME

She added that “at the same time, there’s a scarcity mindset” where people believe they will “never have enough”.

Speaking with Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, she said many female business owners were “not able to buy into the hope or the promise of something more for themselves and financial freedom”.

It comes after a well-placed source told Britain’s Daily Telegraph the Duchess is convinced her new business ventures will make her “a billionaire”.

On the “girl talk” podcast, Confessions Of A Female Founder, listeners are advised on how to turn “small ideas into billion-dollar businesses”, such as Blakely’s success with her shapewear brand.

Speaking to the duchess, the self-made billionaire asked: “What’s your mindset on money, what’s your mindset on success?”

Blakely added: “A lot of people have not realised they have not got great narratives around success or around obtaining a lot of financial freedom and money for themselves.”

Meghan suggested that she “would love to adopt” her friend’s mindset of not feeling guilt at making money or being successful.

The Spanx founder, who has now ventured into footwear with her new business Sneex, said: “I always tell women in particular, money is really fun to make, really fun to spend and really fun to give away.

“And I think money just makes you more of who you already were. Like if you were a jerk and you get a bunch of money, you become a bigger jerk … if you’re generous, you become more generous.

“It kind of just holds a magnifying glass up to you, but it doesn’t create something terrible.”

Duchess to ‘explore’ fashion business

It comes as the duchess revealed in a new interview that she wouldn’t rule out starting her own clothing business one day.

Meghan told US business magazine Fast Company: “The category of fashion is something I will explore at a later date. I do think that’s an interesting space for me.”

For now, the duchess continues with her online shop, which offers her Instagram followers the chance to emulate her style by buying the same high-end clothes and accessories she wore either during the filming of her Netflix show With Love, Meghan or on recent trips.

She receives commission on some, but not all, of the products featured.

Meanwhile, the duchess says her “heart” is in her lifestyle venture, As Ever.

She told the magazine: “My heart is very deeply in my home.

“Everything comes from being rooted in the love story of your home and garden, and then you can imagine different [business] verticals coming out of that.”

‘Mentor’ to ‘so many women’

Speaking to Blakely, the duchess described the pair as “mentors” to female founders.

She said: “You mentor so many women and you want them to succeed, really I’m not in the business of trying to dilute you, I’m in the business of trying to uplift you.

“You want to be the person that they can call when they’re having a quality control issue or they’re worried about something or they just feel uncertain, as we all do.”

With Netflix as a partner in her lifestyle brand As Ever, Meghan said she was now “on the flipside of that” because she could lean on the company for advice.

She said: “I was going to do it all by myself but took a complete U-turn because I really believe in what Netflix and their CPG [consumer packaged goods] department are doing.”

Always wears ‘pointy-toed’ stilettos

The duchess and Blakely also discussed how uncomfortable it was to wear stiletto heels.

Meghan said she always wears “my five-inch, pointy-toed stilettos,” admitting that one of her friends was shocked when she did so during her pregnancy with Prince Archie.

“You have the most enormous bump and your tiny little ankles are bracing themselves in these high heels, but all my weight was in the front.

“So you’re just going, how on earth am I not just tipping, you know, face-planting? I was clinging very closely to my husband, like, ‘Please don’t let me fall’.”

The Telegraph, London

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