Andy Cohen Called out Meghan Markle for Not Sharing Her “Conflicted” Feelings About ‘Real Housewives’ During Their Spotify ‘Archetypes’ Interview

Andy Cohen is essentially the face of Bravo as the host of Watch What Happens Live and almost every reality show reunion. And as a spokesperson of sorts for the network, he felt primed to defend his “beloved troop of Housewives” when Meghan Markle invited him to speak on her Archetypes podcast in November 2022.

Though Markle openly talked about her “conflicted” feelings about the franchise during the episode, Cohen wrote in his recent memoir The Daddy Diaries that she didn’t raise any of these concerns during their interview together.

Per Newsweek, Cohen wrote, “In that narration, she talks about what a tough conversation this was for her, mentioning that she has conflicting feelings about the Housewives. I think it was interesting that she said it in the narration but didn’t discuss it with me head-on. Wouldn’t that have made for a more dynamic conversation?”

The episode, which released as the season finale, explored how men feel about the archetypes and labels that women face.

In the narration, Markle explained why she had concerns about the Real Housewives franchise. “I’m conflicted about this,” she confessed. “Not about [Cohen’s] success, his rightfully deserved success, but on what his success specifically with this franchise has been based off of.”

She continued, “Because as we grapple this season with what archetypes are and how limiting they are, on the flip side of that is…are we exploring giving women the space and allowance to be exactly who they are as complicated layered challenging, funny, silly, etc.? Or in a franchise like Housewives, are we fueling the fire of archetypes by creating caricatures of women?”

Cohen questioned her decision not to bring up her concerns during their conversation, explaining in his book that he went into the interview expecting to defend the series: “I’m going into this expecting to have to defend my beloved troop of Housewives, something I’ve grown accustomed to and enjoy doing,” he wrote.

He later added, however, that Markle was “lovely” and said that they “had a great time together.”

Markle and Prince Harry have since parted ways with Spotify after they reneged on the $20 million podcast deal they signed with the platform three years ago. News of their departure from the platform also stirred up rumors that Markle didn’t conduct her own interviews.

Cohen firmly defended her during a recent interview with Us Weekly and stated that Markle was “well-informed” and “thoughtful” during his conversation with her.

“Of course, I [spoke with Meghan], And she definitely [interviewed me]. That’s an insane rumor,” he told the magazine. “Her podcast is conversations with people. How would she not have, of course she did.”

Cohen also shared that he would “love” to have Markle join him on Watch What Happens Live to discuss her concerns about Real Housewives.

Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen airs Sunday through Thursday at 10 p.m. ET on Bravo.