Meghan Markle’s debut podcast released Tuesday, tied to her agreement with streaming giant Spotify and reportedly worth $25 million, drew an underwhelming response from critics and some members of the public alike.
As Breitbart News reported, the wife of Prince Harry used the episode to focus on herself and through that address a host feminist talking points, launching with a story about how she got multinational, Procter & Gamble, to change an advertisement to be less sexist after sending them a letter about it. She declared she was 11 years old at the time.
She then promised, as Breitbart reported, the podcast series will overall “rip apart the boxes women have been placed into for generations” by examining labels such as “slut”, “diva”, and the so-called “b-word”, explaining that “feminist ideology trickled down… into every aspect of my life.”
In a wide-ranging discussion with guest Serena Williams that followed, entitled “The Misconception of Ambition,” Meghan went on to argue how being labelled “ambitious” hurt her feelings with the pain adding to previous disappointments with the British Royal Family.
She said she did not “ever remember personally feeling the negative connotation behind the word ambitious, until I started dating my now husband” and revealed the “pain” she has suffered later when on her own.
The former actress added: “And apparently ambition is a terrible, terrible thing. For a woman that is, according to some. So since I felt the negativity behind it, It’s really hard to unfeel it.”
Royal commentator Angela Levin was one who quickly pointed to the hypocrisy of the remarks, suggesting Markle “would still be a D-list celebrity if she had not married a prince,” the Daily Mail reports.
She added Meghan had come across as both “ungrateful and a victim” when she had ‘so many chances others had not’, adding that many royals are ambitious and have had success both in their own careers and in terms of raising money for charities.
There were plenty of people who took to social media and agreed.
Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told the outlet of his confusion over her approach.
He told MailOnline: “She undoubtedly feels she has been singled out. The interview was about The Misconception of Ambition, but the implication here is that after she dated Harry she feels she was picked on. She was ambitious beforehand and did well in Suits but that is not top league television.
“There is surely nothing wrong in being ambitious and being royal, in fact the role positively encourages a member of the royal family to be ambitious to help those in need. Diana was very ambitious, her charitable work and her public profile were synonymous, ultimately fatefully so, but she did immense good.”
The view from Down Under was similar.
The Australian newspaper’s Sophie Elsworth said Meghan Markle is a “narcissist of the highest order” and the first episode of her podcast was “absolutely awful.”
“This woman just won’t let up,” she told Sky News Australia. “I just feel so sorry for the Queen, having her part of her family.”
The podcast comes ahead of Harry and Meghan’s return to England next month for events in Manchester and London before heading to Germany.
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