Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s hopes of making a hit podcast with Spotify ended in disappointment after a series of challenges, a bombshell article has revealed.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex ran into several snags that saw their lucrative deal with the streaming service, reportedly worth £18million, collapse in just three years, according to a Vanity Fair article.
The couple reportedly failed to yield consistent, successful content for the platform, with one former employee, claiming they were unlike other celebrity podcasters, who will ‘turn on the mic and talk’.
Instead, the source said, the couple ‘wanted a big theme that would explain the world, but they had no ideas’.
Some of Harry’s bizarre concepts ranged from reviewing hot chocolate every week to interviewing the likes of Putin and Donald Trump about being ‘sociopaths’.
Meanwhile, Meghan found it hard to commit to single idea before ‘backtracking’ and ‘watering them down’, meaning each episode had to be ‘completely reimagined late in production’, the article states.
Even when Meghan finally premiered her podcast Archetypes – aimed at empowering women by breaking down gender stereotypes – it failed to take off amid rumours that Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Megan Thee Stallion all declined to appear on it.
Here, MailOnline looks at some of the claims from Vanity Fair’s bombshell article about Harry and Meghan’s podcast disaster.
Harry’s ‘sociopath’ podcast idea
During the couple’s signing to Spotify, the Duke reportedly wanted to host a podcast series where he interviewed powerful men with complicated stories, first reported by Bloomberg.
Harry took a particular interest in how these men’s personal experiences transformed them into sociopaths, a source who worked closely with the couple on audio projects recalled.
According to the source, Harry questioned why his own ‘childhood trauma’ meant he never ended up as ‘one of these bad guys’, and wanted to explore this idea further.
Harry’s other ideas reportedly included Harry reviewing a cup of hot chocolate with a different friend each week, which he and his considered and rejected.
Another included the Prince ‘fixing’ something different each episode, ranging from something as trivial as a flat tire, to huge worldwide issues such as global warming.
A novel idea Harry pitched himself involved interviewing disabled people who competed in the Invictus Games – an sporting event for members of the armed forces founded by Harry in 2013.
But there were reportedly concerns that this would alienate audiences who ‘want to hear about Harry’s life’.
Failing to get big stars
It took nearly two years after the couple’s deal signing with Spotify, before Meghan premiered her podcast Archetypes – aimed at empowering women by breaking down gender stereotypes.
Vanity Fair cites a source saying that the idea for the Sussexes’ solo creation Archetypes did in fact come from another employee.
However, the noted, the ’employee didn’t own any of the intellectual property’.
The podcast debuted on August 23, 2022, before Spotify and Archewell Audio released a statement confirming they had mutually agreed to part ways in June 2023.
Because of Archewell Audio taking so long to handle production, Spotify’s studio Gimlet was called in, meaning the production was costlier and required more resources from the podcasting giant than expected.
Another source recalled there had been rumours that Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Megan Thee Stallion were asked to come on the show but declined and, despite an initial star-studded guest list, the podcast was eventually discontinued.
Issues with Spotify staff
According to two unnamed sources, after working on Archetypes, one colleague took a leave of absence following a three-episode on the stint. This is before they left Gimlet altogether.
It’s claimed others described ‘taking extended breaks from work to escape scrutiny, exiting their job, or undergoing long-term therapy after working with Meghan’.
The source told the writer she felt that if Meghan chose to ‘acknowledge her own shortcomings or personal contributions to situations’ instead of adopting a perpetual victim role, her perception might be ‘better’.
Meanwhile, an individual who worked in media projects read claims of Meghan ‘bullying’ palace aids and said they could not imagine such behaviour really happened.
However, after working with the Duchess, the person allegedly changed their mind, thinking: ‘Oh, any given Tuesday this happened.’
The couple were famously disparaged by podcaster Bill Simmons who worked with the Sussexes at Spotify.
In June 2023, he famously referred to the couple as ‘f******* grifters’, adding: ‘I have got 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.… F*** them. The grifters.’
Walking back on ‘provocative’ ideas
When it came to the episodes for Archetypes, it was claimed that Meghan would agree to ‘provocative’ ideas and then walk back on them.
According to the source in media projects, the Duchess thought about saying the word b**** in one episode, as she thought ‘you hear it all the time’.
But this was later watered down to her calling it the ‘B-word’.
On another occasion Meghan reportedly wanted to do an episode titled ‘Slut’, which would explore how trans women’s sexuality is used against them.
This was later retitled ‘Human, Being’ and was completely reimagined late in production, according to Vanity Fair.
A source claimed: ‘Every episode got more and more watered down and further away from actual conversation.’
Harry ‘was challenging to engage with’
One former Spotify staffer described Prince Harry as ‘challenging to engage with’.
They added that while the couple were interviewing someone for a job, Prince Harry gave of an air of ‘why should I do this?’
The prompted the employee to wonder: ‘Didn’t Spotify pay you a lot of money to do this?’
A person who knows the couple added that it was their belief that Harry would be happy for Meghan to make all the money.
Instead, they believe, Harry would prefer not to have to, and to instead concentrate on charity work.
When it came to the episodes, it was claimed that Meghan would agree to ideas and then walk back on them.
