The Duchess of Sussex looked pensive on Friday, the day after she ended her $20 million deal with Spotify.
Meghan Markle, 41, was spotted near her home in Montecito, apparently in an intense conversation. She then took off her earbuds but kept looking at her phone as she continued walking.
Dressed casually in black skinny jeans, ballerinas, and a striped sweater, she carried a $5,400 Fendi Peekaboo ISeeU bag.
Her husband and their two children – Archie, four, and two-year-old Lilibet – were not seen.
The decision not to embark on a second series of the 13-episode podcast Archetypes – which was number one on Spotify’s rankings when it debuted – was seen by some as an admission of failure.
Spotify and the Sussexes’ audio production company Archewell Audio have released a joint statement saying they have “mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we have created together.”
But Bill Simmons, Head of Podcast Innovation and Monetization at Spotify, condemned the pair in an episode of his own podcast on Friday.
“The damn crooks. That’s the podcast we should have launched with them,” he said.
“I have 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.’
Simmons, a sports writer, founded the sports and pop culture website and podcast network The Ringer and sold it to Spotify for $200 million in 2020.
He then joined Spotify and has long been critical of the pair.
Last January, he sued Prince Harry, saying it was “embarrassing” to be affiliated with the same company.
