In the premiere episode of Meghan Markle’s new podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder, the Duchess of Sussex interviews Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd. The two women discuss their shared histories as mothers and entrepreneurs, but during the interview, Meghan mentions that they both faced another challenging situation in common.
“We both had preeclampsia—postpartum preeclampsia” Meghan said. “It’s so rare, and so scary.” This is the first time Meghan has revealed that she was diagnosed with preeclampsia, a hypertensive disorder that occurs due to pregnancy, and she didn’t mention whether it affected her during her first or second pregnancy.
Courtesy of Lemonada Media.
The duchess added that it was difficult managing life during the ordeal. “You go and you’re still trying to juggle all of these things. And the world doesn’t know what’s happening quietly. And in the quiet, you’re still trying to show up for people,” Meghan said. “In the quiet, you’re still just trying to show up mostly for your children. But those things are huge medical scares.”
The debut episode of Confessions of a Female Founder With Meghan, which was released early Tuesday morning, is the first of eight weekly episodes set to air over the next two months. So far, the names of future guests have not been announced. The podcast was created in partnership with Lemonada Media, a woman-owned podcast company, which also airs shows hosted by Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Dylan Mulvaney. It marks the duchess’s return to podcasting nearly two years after the deal she and Prince Harry signed with Spotify ended after only 12 episodes of her first show, Archetypes.
The interview was recorded before the product launch of Meghan’s new business, her new business, As Ever. During the episode, Meghan discussed adding that she had consulted Wolfe Herd for ideas about building her brand. She mentioned that planning the company’s ornate packaging, including champagne tissue paper and a label in a facsimile of her own handwriting, had caused her stress.
Meghan also said that she relished starting a business while also raising her two children, Prince Archie, 5, and Princess Lilibet, 3. “What I do love the most about having young kids, in this chapter while I’m building [As Ever], is the perspective that it brings, because you’re building something while your child’s going through potty training…And both are just as important,” she said. “It’s like, ‘Great, okay, where’s the Cheerios? Well done.’ And then you’re championing your team 10 minutes later about something that is really high value for the world. In your own world, that’s super high value. And in [Lili’s] world, that’s super high value.”
Wolfe Herd explained that she and Meghan first became friends when she visited Meghan and her husband Prince Harry at their Montecito home for a small New Year’s Eve party. The gathering was early in the evening and Wolfe Herd and her husband Michael Herd came dressed as rhinestone cowboys because they were visiting another party afterward.
Meghan added it was a memorable experience for her son Archie. “You guys came over with our other friends, and it was the first time we met the two of you,” she said. “And to this day, Archie will still say when do I get to see the cowboys again.”
Wolfe Herd added that she enjoys visiting the duchess in Montecito. “You’re such an amazing hostess,” the Bumble CEO said. “When you go to your home, you’re just engulfed in love and coziness and yumminess, like both from just like the energy and the surroundings, but like the things you feed us and like the way you treat us.”
