Meghan Markle has finally released the first episode of her Spotify podcast, Archetypes, and along with it an absolutely breathtaking cover portrait.
There's something really striking about the black and white photo, which isn't just that the Duchess of Sussex looks beautiful, but that she looks so relaxed in a ribbed white tank top—a far cry from the elaborate gowns and fascinators she had to wear during her time as a senior royal.
The portrait is intimate, designed—I presume—to give us a look into who the duchess is at home, with her hair down and a few flyaways lending her that relatability factor.
In the picture, Markle stares directly into the camera, looking serious yet laid-back.
The podcast sees the duchess smash preconceptions that are placed on women in our society, by selecting a label such as "ambitious" (with a negative connotation), "bitch" or "dragon lady" to pick apart in each episode, in an effort to encourage girls and women to challenge those labels and be authentically who they are.
In the first episode, Markle invites her friend Serena Williams to discuss the word "ambition" as it relates to women.
Speaking on the trailer for the long-awaited podcast, the duchess says over an audio montage of things women are often called, "These are words you hear a lot in the media, online, in people's homes. They're thrown around casually."
As the audio gets louder and faster, she declares, "It's time to cut through the noise. We're going to get to the roots of these words, and understand why they persist."
Archetypes is one of several projects in the works for the Sussexes, alongside Prince Harry's upcoming memoir and their Netflix documentary Heart of Invictus, plus a mysterious docuseries.
