Confessions of a Female Founder: Meghan Markle's new 'sycophantic' podcast flops, receives one star rating

It has been days since Meghan Markle dropped the first episode of Confessions of a Female Founder and the podcast is yet to generate buzz. The underperforming first episode saw Bumble founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd as the guest.

Meghan Markle's new podcast Confessions of a Female Founder

In the episode, Whitney and Meghan spoke about their friendship, juggling mom duties and work, "brutalizing" tabloid scrutiny and touched upon their postpartum preeclampsia, which grabbed headlines. However, according to reviews, the first episode struggled to stay aligned with Markle's intended focus. The podcast is billed as a platform where women who successfully launched their own businesses and brands.

Confessions of a Female Founder ranking in India and US

According to a report of Dail Mail UK, Confessions of a Female Founder ranked at the 19th spot on Spotify's general Top Podcasts chart in the US, failing to replicate the success of Archetypes.

The podcast is not even in the top 20 Podcast chart in Spotify India.

Confessions of a Female Founder audience reviews

Meanwhile, going by the audience review of the podcast, many had divided opinions. A user took to X, formerly Twitter, and wrote, “I see Meghan Markle has a new podcast coming out and it sounds GREAT!”

“Meghan Markle's podcast is incredibly DULL! It's worse than a toothache. I regret reacting to it! If only there were another word for boring (sic),” said another user. One more posted a review of the show and added, “Meghan Markle’s Podcast Is a Cringe Factory https://youtu.be/WWE62k3CF90?si=VcgNOAzWvaARqWwE via @YouTube How out of touch these rich people are complaining about everything. Same narcissistic behavior, nothing has changed. Only picking out billionaires that she wants to be part of. (sic)”

One more upset listener shared, “Meghan Markle's first episode of her newest podcast about women in business. Within the first sentence, the guest reveals she doesn’t care about business and finds joy from being a home-maker. Why is everything Meghan Markle touches such a weird, mess (sic)?”

Critics review Meghan Markle's Confessions of a Female Founder

Meanwhile, the critics' reviews aren't looking great either for the Duchess of Sussex.

Among a plethora of critical reviews, Confessions of a Female Founder received just one star in The Times. Writer James Marriott mentioned in his review the show called it ‘vapid lessons in self-love’ by Meghan.

The Irish Times's Laura Slattery reviewed the podcast and slammed it for being an ‘ego-fluffing conversation’ between Meghan and her guest.

Natalie Oliveri, a royal reporter for Australian women's network 9Honey, wrote ‘certain prerequisites it seems the Duchess must have before booking a guest – they need to be friends and the guest should praise Meghan where possible.’

The podcast received only a two-star rating from The Telegraph and The Guardian.

Rachel Aroesti, in The Guardian, said the ‘sycophantic interview podcast is stomach-turning.’ Telegraph's critic Chris Bennion did not approve of the podcast and said it had an 'inane stream of mindless aphorisms.'

Previously, With Love, Meghan Season 1 of Meghan Markle streamed on Netflix, which too did not perform well despite Prince Harry's cameo appearance. She also re-launched her new lifestyle brand As Ever.