Meghan Markle was ‘under a lot of stress’ during her pregnancies

Duchess of Sussex spoke to friend Serena Williams for the first episode of her new podcast, Archetypes

The Duchess of Sussex was “under a lot of stress” during her pregnancies, her friend Serena Williams has revealed.

Tennis pro Williams is the first guest on Meghan Markle’s new podcast, Archetypes, which dropped on Spotify on Tuesday afternoon (23 August).

Meghan acted as an executive producer for the first episode and spoke to Williams about the double standard women face when they are labelled “ambitious”. The pair also discussed the ripple effect this has on the rest of their lives.

During the episode, Williams – who recently announced her retirement from tennis – reflected on how she “loved” being pregnant.

“I love being a woman and I loved being pregnant. I was one of those,” Williams said.

Meghan replied: “You made pregnancy look so sexy, I just waddled around [laughs]. I was just tired, I was tired. Oh my god.”

“I was the annoying one,” Williams said, adding: “You were the one under a lot of stress.”

Meghan announced her first pregnancy in October 2018 and gave birth to baby Archie, now three, in May 2019. At the time she was a working member of the royal family.

Meghan gave birth to her and the Duke of Sussex’s second child, Lilibet, in June 2021, 18 months after the couple stepped down as senior members of the royal family.

Williams added that she “will never” completely retire from tennis. “I will never retire from something I absolutely love,” the mother-of-one said.

“I will always have some sort of involvement in it. Maybe not professionally, but I will always want to be involved in some form in tennis. Obviously I’ve retired professionally but it’s also an evolution.

“I really want to expand my family, and you know I’ve been putting it off for so long, and as a woman there’s only so long you can put that off and other people out there, other men out there, can continue to play.”