Meghan Markle‘s podcast is reportedly struggling to realize traction, with sources claiming her outreach to A-list guests has been met with silence.
Because the release of the primary episode, the Duchess’s podcast, “Confessions of a Female Founder,” has also been met with negative reviews.
Meanwhile, Meghan Markle recently opened up in regards to the real reason why she modified her lifestyle brand’s name from American Riviera Orchard to As Ever.
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Meghan Markle’s Podcast Reportedly Fails To Land Big-Name Guests
Meghan is reportedly struggling to draw top-tier guests for her latest podcast despite an ambitious mission to have “honest conversations with women who’ve built from the bottom up, faced challenges, and kept going.”
In keeping with insiders who spoke to Radar Online, Meghan’s outreach to A-list stars like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Hailey Bieber has been met with silence.
“She’s dialed all the massive names, but nobody’s picked up, and the absence of high-profile guests within the lineup is raising eyebrows,” the source said.
“There is not any Taylor Swift. No Beyoncé. Not even a Hailey Bieber,” the insider continued. “And whenever you’re pitching female empowerment, that is an issue. It speaks volumes about her pulling power. She’s not completely satisfied about her lack of appeal.”
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With big-name celebrities reportedly turning down invitations, Meghan is now expected to shift her podcast lineup toward personal friends, influencers, and emerging entrepreneurs, as she also works to construct momentum for her lifestyle brand, As Ever.
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Who Have Been The Guests On The Duchess’s Show So Far?
Meghan’s podcast “Confessions of a Female Founder,” produced by Lemonade, kicked off with Bumble’s Whitney Wolfe Herd.
It was then followed by Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani, with probably the most recent guest being Kadi Lee, Meghan’s friend and business partner.
Within the debut episode, Meghan opened up a couple of serious health scare post-childbirth and shared nostalgic childhood photos on Instagram.
The Duchess of Sussex also hinted at her past royal life, referencing her reluctance to step into the highlight after Archie’s birth.
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Meghan Markle Revealed The Reason Why She Renamed Her Lifestyle Brand
On the most recent episode of Meghan’s podcast, she opened up in regards to the branding confusion surrounding her lifestyle enterprise.
Originally introduced as American Riviera Orchard in March of last 12 months, the mother of two admitted the name eventually felt like a “word salad.”
Speaking along with her guest and friend, Kadi Lee, Meghan revealed she had actually secured the name As Ever back in 2022.
Nevertheless, because the project evolved and a significant partner, Netflix, got here on board, the unique naming structure not made sense.
“I had secured As Ever as a reputation in 2022, after which as every part began to evolve last 12 months, and bringing in a partner the dimensions that it was, and it was just so interesting,” Meghan said, per the Each day Mail.
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“I like American Riviera as an umbrella,’ after which give you the option to have verticals beneath it. And perhaps have the ‘Orchard’ really small. But when that is not feasible… suddenly it became this word salad. I didn’t love that a lot,” she added.
The Duchess’s Podcast Was Critically Panned
Since its release, Meghan’s podcast has been met with negative reviews from several critics.
The Times of London’s columnist James Marriott slammed the podcast as “Meghan’s vapid lessons in self-love,” while a author for the Guardian noted that it was “stomach-turning” and “sycophantic.”
Further slamming the brand new project was Telegraph’s TV critic Chris Bennion. He claimed it was an “inane stream of mindless aphorisms” with “no confessions or secrets.”
Similar words were used to explain Meghan’s cooking show, which debuted on Netflix early last month.
An outlet reviewed it as “a Montecito ego trip not value taking,” while one other slammed it as “a ghastly artifact of a selected cultural era that recently met its apocalypse,” per the Each day Mail.
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The show was also called an “exercise in narcissism, full of extravagant brunches, celebrity pals, and business plugs.”
Meghan Markle Slammed For Putting Out Multiple Business Ventures At Once
Former Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Tina Brown recently called Meghan “desperate for attention” for launching multiple businesses inside a brief period.
“Her problem is just that she is so ADD. She just never stops making announcements and never really follows through,” the previous Vanity Fair editor-in-chief said on the Mixed Signals for Semafor Media podcast last Friday, per the Each day Mail.
The 71-year-old went on to suggest Meghan is “devoid of self-confidence” as an extra explanation for the duchess’ multiple latest business ventures.
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“She’s all the time attempting to be a form of quick Beyoncé or quick Michelle Obama without the background that has built those people – you recognize, those very, very strong structures on which they stand. In order that’s really been her problem,” Brown added in regards to the Duchess of Sussex.
