Meghan Markle’s Spotify interview with Bravo’s Andy Cohen was called into question in his memoir over her narration.
The Duchess of Sussex criticized The Real Housewives franchise, which Cohen produces, for spreading negative stereotypes of women in her Archetypes monologue but appears not to have put her allegations to Cohen directly, limiting his opportunity to respond.
The Watch What Happens Live host appeared surprised to hear her comments when the podcast episode finally aired, though he did say she was “lovely” in person.
Meghan and Prince Harry’s Spotify deal recently collapsed and, in the aftermath, questions have also been raised about the use of producers to conduct the less prominent interviews on the show.
In his book The Daddy Diaries, Cohen wrote: “Meghan Markle’s podcast came out and it was interesting to see how they produced it. She narrates it, which is an effective device, especially if you’re cutting an hour down to twenty minutes, which she did.
“However, in that narration, she talks about what a tough conversation this was for her, mentioning that she has conflicting feelings about the Housewives. I think it was interesting that she said it in the narration but didn’t discuss it with me head-on. Wouldn’t that have made for a more dynamic conversation?”
During her podcast narration, Meghan said of the reality TV franchise: “I’m conflicted about this. Not about [Cohen’s] success, his rightfully deserved success, but on what his success specifically with this franchise has been based off of.
“Because as we grapple this season with what archetypes are and how limiting they are, on the flip side of that is…are we exploring giving women the space and allowance to be exactly who they are as complicated layered challenging, funny, silly, etc.?
“Or in a franchise like Housewives, are we fueling the fire of archetypes by creating caricatures of women?”
Meghan plays a clip of an argument about cheating from The Real Housewives of New Jersey and in her narration afterward, groans as she says: “Oh my gosh. Oh man, this is a tough one for me.
“This is a tough one because as you heard Andy describes this as a feminist show and I want to hear him out on that because this drama it tends to feed off the kinds of women that they often feature on the show, or at least one facet of their personalities,” she said.
“And yes, some might call them stereotypes and I think for this reason people have really—like I’m explaining—mixed feelings about the show and the role that the show might play in perpetuating the sorts of labels we’ve been discussing on Archetypes.
“So, I thought it was important to really hear Andy out on this and to get to know him a little better too.”
However, Cohen’s memoir suggests she did not actually present her concerns to him during their conversation, meaning he did not have an opportunity to address them. And he appears to have turned up to the interview ready to defend the show from similar criticisms.
He wrote: “I’m going into this expecting to have to defend my beloved troop of Housewives, something I’ve grown accustomed to and enjoy doing.”
In the interview itself, he wrote: “She was lovely, and we had a great time together, in which I found an opportunity to throw in the question ‘Were you silent…or silenced,'” referring to a quote from Meghan’s interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021.
“I was so proud of myself, but she sat there, not understanding the reference at first until it dawned on her,” he said.
