Meghan Markle invites men on final podcast episode

The Duchess of Sussex welcomed three males guests to the last instalment of Archetypes, to discuss how men can change the 'toxic' culture prohibiting women from success.

Meghan Markle. Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images.

The Duchess of Sussex welcomed three Hollywood heavyweights on for the last instalment of Archetypes, to discuss how men can change the 'toxic' culture prohibiting women from success. 

Meghan Markle has left listeners in the dark over the future of her podcast Archetypes, after the final episode of the hugely popular 12-part series hit Spotify. 

The Duchess of Sussex signed off the final episode of season one with a defiant piece of poetry about survival, but didn't hint at whether the music streaming service would be renewing the series for another season.

“What didn’t you do to bury me, but you forgot I was a seed,” Markle said at the conclusion of the episode, quoting Greek poet Dinos Christianopoulos. 

“Many moons ago, I heard a quote that I will share with you today,” she explained of her choice of words. “As we talk about labels, tropes and boxes that some may try to squeeze you into and roles and stereotypes that are attributed to you that don’t quite fit the full person that you are, this is what I wanted to leave you with.”

The episode, titled Man-ifesting a Cultural Shift, was the first to include male guests. Hollywood heavyweights Trevor Noah, Judd Apatow and Andy Cohen joined Markle at the microphone, discussing the labels that obstruct women from achieving their goals, and how men in the media can help change the narrative.

Cohen, inarguably a promoter of some of the stereotypes Markle has explored as creator of the “Real Housewives” franchise, was thrown under the spotlight. The 14 year long show features toxic relationships, “cat fights” and dramatic feuds between the key female players. 

Markle admitted she was once a fan of the show until her own reality eclipsed any reality show storyline.

“I stopped watching ‘The Housewives’ when my life had its own level of drama that I stopped craving,” she explained, with Cohen finishing her thought with “other people’s.”

Andy Cohen. Picture: Getty.

“I get why it was such a huge, huge part of pop culture," she added. "But I mean, I would say almost every one of my friends still watches it and I go, ‘Why are you watching that? There’s so much drama!’ And it’s because it’s entertainment. It’s entertaining to them.”

Markle said she was “conflicted” about how such shows might “fuel the fire of archetypes by creating caricatures of women.” 

What else have we learnt from the first season of Archetypes?

Markle opened up about her role as a Deal or No Deal briefcase girl, revealing she quit the job because she felt “objectified”, only appreciated for “beauty not brains” and treated like a “bimbo”.

Speaking to guest Paris Hilton in an early episode titled Breaking Down the Bimbo, Markle said while she was grateful for the work that “paid the bills”, she disliked “how it made me feel, which was not smart”. 

She added that she wanted her daughter, Lilibet, to “aim higher”.

The UK citizenship test was so hard, Prince Harry could not answer some of the questions

While the Duke and Duchess of Sussex now live in California, Markle began studying for the exam back in 2017 when the pair got engaged and they were still living in Britain, with the intention of applying for indefinite leave to remain and then citizenship. 

Among the requirements is a 45-minute written test of 24 multiple choice questions about British traditions and customs. Applicants must get 75% correct in order to pass.

Speaking on the podcast, Markle said: “That citizenship exam is so hard. I was studying for it and I remember going: ‘Oh my goodness.’ I would ask my husband: ‘Did you know this? Did you know this?’ And he went: ‘Huh? I had no idea.’”

Markle said women are ‘vilified’ and slut-shamed for their sexuality

In conversation with legendary writer Candace Bushell, whose landmark 'Sex and the City' column in the New York Observer brought fresh and spikey insight into what the sex lives of single women in the nineties actually looked like, Markle probed the sexual double standard between men and women. 

“I don’t understand what it is about the stigma surrounding women and their sexuality, the exploration of their sexuality that is so much more vilified than for a man,” said Markle. Musing that, if a man is “a player, it's often celebrated”. 

On the flipside “for a woman, I don’t care if she’s perhaps the most successful woman in finance in her mid-50s, I promise you, someone will still go, ‘But she was such a slut in college.’”

Similarly, Markle said calling a strong-minded woman “difficult” is really a way to “hide some of her awesome qualities”.

Reflecting on her nickname “Duchess Difficult” in Markle said that while “not everyone is going to like you, the goal can be for them to respect you”.

She also explored the term “bitch” - referring to it as “the b-word” - and suggested that “difficult” was “really a codeword for the b-word”.

“So, perhaps the truth is that labelling a woman as the ‘b-word’ or as ‘difficult’ is often a deflection,” she told her listeners.