Meghan Markle: Today host slams duchess for ‘talking as much as her guests’ on podcast

Meghan Markle has received plenty of criticism in the Australian media following the release of her ‘truth bomb’-filled interview with The Cut and controversial Archetypes podcast.

And the backlash continued on Wednesday as Today Extra‘s LA-based entertainment reporter Sam Rubin savaged the Duchess of Sussex over her sit-down interview with Mariah Carey on the latest episode of Archetypes. 

Rubin told hosts Sylvia Jeffreys and David Campbell that Meghan, 41, spent a surprising amount of time talking about herself instead of letting her guests speak. 

‘What I think is interesting here, is normally when you talk about a podcast… you would learn about the guest. But these first two episodes [seem to be] fodder for Meghan to talk about Meghan,’ he said. 

‘So, here, with Mariah Carey they both discuss growing up as biracial children, feelings of exclusion and the like. So it’s really interesting the way these guests have been booked,’ he continued.

Rubin noted that the other celebrities yet to appear on the podcast – including Crazy Rich Asians star Constance Wu – appear to have been selected because they share the same experience of ostracism that Meghan claims to have had.  

Today entertainment reporter Sam Rubin, 62, (left) has taken a dig at Meghan Markle, 41, (right) for ‘talking as much as her guests’ on her new Archetypes podcast 

‘I think, in lieu of a straight ‘I’ll ask the question then wait for the star to give a really long answer’, Meghan is talking as much as the guests are,’ he said. 

During her latest podcast episode, Meghan told Mariah that she was only treated like a ‘black woman’ for the first time when she began dating Prince Harry. 

The former Suits star said ‘things really shifted’ for her after she entered royal life. 

LA-based Rubin jibed at Meghan while describing the interview to co-anchors Ally Langdon (centre) and David Campbell (far right), saying she spends a surprising amount of air-time talking about herself 

‘What I think is interesting here, is normally when you talk about a podcast… you would learn about the guest. But these first two episodes [seem to be] fodder for Meghan to talk about Meghan,’ Rubin said 

Meghan said that she was inspired by the singer when she was a child because Ms Carey, 53, is mixed race. Mariah’s father is African-American and Venezuelan, while her mother is white Irish.

The Duchess, whose estranged father Thomas is white and her mother Doria is black, said that when Carey first came on the music scene she thought: ‘Oh my gosh. Someone who looks like me. She’s mixed like me’, adding that she was a ‘fangirl’ of the star.

This week’s episode is called: ‘The Duality of Diva’, where Meghan herself was branded a diva by Ms Carey and the duchess admitted she went into ‘quiet revolt’. 

‘I think, in lieu of a straight ‘I’ll ask the question then wait for the star to give a really long answer’, Meghan is talking as much as the guests are,’ Rubin remarked. The second episode of the Duchess of Sussex’s (left) Archetypes podcast features an interview with Mariah Carey (right)

Meghan said at the end of the episode: ‘It stopped me in my tracks. I started to sweat a little bit. I started squirming in my chair in this quiet revolt. Why would you say that?’   

‘My mind genuinely was just spinning with what nonsense she must have read or clicked on to make her say that’, before adding: ‘She meant diva as a compliment. But I heard it as a dig. I heard it as the word diva, as I think of it. But, in that moment, as she explained to me, she meant it as chic, as aspirational,’ she continued. 

‘And how one very charged word can mean something different for each of us, it’s mind blowing to me,’ she added. 

During her latest podcast episode, Meghan told Mariah that she was only treated like a ‘black woman’ for the first time when she began dating Prince Harry (right). (Pictured at Bondi beach in October 2018) 

Meghan said that she was inspired by the singer when she was a child because Ms Carey, 53, is mixed race. Mariah’s father is African-American and Venezuelan, while her mother is white Irish 

Meghan had called on the superstar singer to appear on her Archetypes podcast after her friend Serena Williams appeared last week. 

In this episode, Meghan complained about how she had to continue engagements on a royal tour in South Africa after a fire in son Archie’s bedroom.

The Duchess also hit out at those who criticised her for being ‘ambitious’ when she started dating Harry. 

Meghan had called on the superstar singer to appear on her Archetypes podcast after her friend Serena Williams appeared last week