Meghan Markle's Biggest Revelations in Her 'Archetypes' Podcast

Meghan Markle is not holding back.

Throughout each episode of her recently released podcast titled Archetypes, the Duchess of Sussex has opened up about her personal life during intimate conversations centered around gender-specific stereotypes and labels.

"This is Archetypes — the podcast where we dissect, explore, and subvert the labels that try to hold women back," she says in the teaser. "I'll have conversations with women who know all too well how these typecasts shape our narratives. And I'll talk to historians to understand how we even got here in the first place."

Following its release on Aug. 23, the podcast has drawn in a global audience, topping Spotify charts around the world.

In addition to featuring big names such as Serena Williams and Mariah Carey in recent episodes, Markle revealed to The Cut that Constance Wu, Issa Rae, Lisa Ling, Margaret Cho, and Ziwe are also slated to appear.

Between the "negative connotation" she felt around being called "ambitious" when dating Prince Harry to giving Williams advice on her tennis retirement, here are the biggest revelations in Markle's Archetypes podcast.

Meghan Markle revealed Archie's room caught on fire in Africa

During the debut episode of Archetypes, Markle opened up to Williams about a traumatizing experience that occurred while on her royal tour of Africa with Prince Harry in 2019.

The Duchess of Sussex revealed that while she and her husband were at an official engagement in Nyanga, a fire broke out in the nursery where their son, Archie Harrison, was staying. Learning of the horrifying news when they returned to their car, Markle credited their "amazing nanny" for protecting him.

"She was supposed to put Archie down for his nap, and she just said, 'You know what? Let me just go get a snack downstairs,'" began Markle. "In that amount of time that she went downstairs, the heater in the nursery caught on fire. There was no smoke detector. Someone happened to just smell smoke down the hallway, went in, fire extinguished," Meghan said.

She added, "He was supposed to be sleeping in there."

Amid the chaos, Markle said that they had to leave for another scheduled engagement — despite everyone being "in tears" and "shaken" by the incident, something that Williams (who is a mother to daughter Olympia) said she could never have done.

Meghan Markle gave Serena Williams advice on her tennis retirement

Williams revealed on the first episode that she confided in Markle about her decision to retire from her career as a professional tennis player. In fact, the athlete said that Markle "knew about it for a long time," and even "talked with Harry about it a lot as well."

Markle recalled, "I remember that day you were here at the house and I was like, 'What are you two chatting about?'" Amid their "hour-long" conversation, Williams said, "He was trying to knock some sense into me."

Markle noted that she "can understand," seemingly alluding to her big decision to exit from her royal life in March 2020. "I think both of us, or the three of us, really know that sometimes the right decision isn't the easiest decision," Markle said of herself, Harry and Williams.

"It's a hard decision and it takes a lot of thought, and a lot of council and a lot of support to just go 'uh-uh-uh,' and just make the choice," she concluded.

Meghan Markle said she felt a 'negative connotation' of the word 'ambitious' when dating Prince Harry

In the opening episode of the podcast, Markle and Williams discussed the double standard society sets for women who chase their dreams.

Markle said that she attended an all-girls Catholic school in Los Angeles throughout her childhood, one that "always empowered the students to go after what they wanted."

She noted that the feminist ideology and ambition seeped into every aspect of her life, that is until she started dating Prince Harry. "So I don't remember ever personally feeling the negative connotation behind the word 'ambitious' until I started dating my now-husband," she said.

Reflecting on life in the limelight as Prince Harry's partner, she continued, "Apparently ambition is a terrible, terrible thing, for a woman that is — according to some. So, since I've felt the negativity behind it, it's really hard to un-feel it. I can't unsee it, either, in the millions of girls and women who make themselves smaller — so much smaller — on a regular basis."

Meghan Markle said she was not treated as a 'Black woman' until she started dating Prince Harry

Mariah Carey was a featured guest on the second episode of Archetypes, titled "The Duality of Diva," where they discussed today's negative connotations of the word "diva" and being biracial.

The pop icon opened up about how she "didn't fit in" during her youth due to constant moving and living in polarizing neighborhoods. "You know, it would be more of the Black area of town or then you could be where my mom chose to live, were the more, the white neighborhoods," Carey explained.

But for Markle, Carey was a trailblazing figure of representation and influence. While Markle noted that for them, fitting in is "very different because we're light-skinned," she referenced a specific time when she felt particularly labeled.

"I mean, if there's any time in my life that it's been more focused on my race, it's only once I started dating my husband. Then I started to understand what it was like to be treated like a Black woman," Meghan said. "Because up until then, I had been treated like a mixed woman. And things really shifted."

Meghan Markle described herself as an 'ugly duckling' growing up

In an episode titled "The Stigma of the Singleton," the Duchess got real with guest Mindy Kaling about the hardships of high school. In fact, Markle opened up about her appearance when she was a teenager, describing herself as an "ugly duckling."

"Look, maybe not conventional beauty as it…now, maybe that would be seen as beautiful but massive frizzy curly hair and a huge gap in my teeth that," she said. "I was the smart one. Forever and ever and ever and ever. And, and then just sort of grew up."

Furthermore, the Duchess revealed that she spent a lot of time alone in high school and "never had anyone to sit with at lunch." Therefore, she decided to get involved in various extracurriculars to keep her occupied and get her out of her shell.

"I was always a little bit of a loner and really shy and didn't know where I fit in," Markle said. "I was like, okay, well then I'll become the president of the Multicultural Club and the president of sophomore class and the president of this and French club. And, and by doing that, I had meetings at lunchtime. So I didn't have to worry about who I would sit with or what I would do because I was always so busy."

Meghan Markle said Prince Harry helped her at her 'worst point'

During "The Decoding of Crazy" episode of the podcast, Markle opened up to activist and Bollywood star Deepika Padukone about her mental health struggles. She revealed that Prince Harry stepped in with advice when she was at her "worst point."

She went on to explain that he found her a referral to a mental health professional, whom she dialed without prior notice. She said that the professional was at the grocery store at the time, but despite being preoccupied, the Duchess recalled, "She could hear the dire state that I was in."

Markle continued, "But I think it's for all of us to be really honest about what it is that you need and to not be afraid to make peace with that, to ask for it."

Meghan Markle recalled being told to 'suck it in' on Deal or No Deal

During the "Breaking Down 'The Bimbo'" episode of the podcast, Markle chatted with guest Paris Hilton about her former experience working as a "briefcase girl" on the game show Deal or No Deal in 2006.

While she said she was "thankful for the job," Markle recalled how the job made her feel — "which was not smart," she admitted. "There was a very cookie-cutter idea of precisely what we should look like. It was solely about beauty — and not necessarily about brains," she added.

"When I look back at that time, I'll never forget this one detail — because moments before we'd get on stage, there was a woman who ran the show and she'd be there backstage, and I can still hear her," Markle explained. "She couldn't properly pronounce my last name at the time and I knew who she was talking to because she'd go, 'Markle, suck it in! Markle, suck it in!'"

Meghan Markle revealed that she's 43% Nigerian after doing a genealogy test

Markle chatted with Issa Rae and Ziwe to discuss the stereotype of the "angry black woman" in her most recent episode of the podcast. During their conversation, the Duchess of Sussex told the Showtime star that she "just had [her] genealogy done a couple years ago."

She revealed she was 43% Nigerian, saying: "I'm going to start to dig deeper into all this because anybody that I've told, especially Nigerian women, are like 'What!'" Meanwhile, Ziwe replied: "This is huge for our community... No, honestly, you do look like a Nigerian, you look like my Aunt Uzo. So this is great."