The Relatable Way Meghan Markle Described Pregnancy

Earlier this week, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry welcomed a special new family member to their expanding brood, with the Los Angeles Times confirming the celebrity couple had adopted an adorable beagle named Mia. Markle and Harry's household is sure to be considerably busier thanks to the addition of the rescue pooch, considering they already have growing children Archie and Lilibet to contend with. 

Per People, the Sussexes welcomed their son in May 2019, followed by his sister a little over two years later, in June 2021. Notably, Lilibet arrived following their very public exit from the royal family, once Meghan and Harry had relocated to California. They managed to keep both births relatively under the radar, with Lilibet's in particular not announced until a couple days after the fact, and pointedly on the official Archewell site. 

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have kept their home life private since moving across the pond, just as they intended to upon defecting, but Meghan has offered a fascinating insight into her pregnancies that will have other moms cheering. 

In the very first episode of her long-awaited podcast, "Archetypes," Meghan Markle admitted to guest Serena Williams that, in contrast to how gorgeous and confident the tennis star seemed while pregnant, she felt like a total mess. The Daily Mail reports that Markle praised her buddy for posing on the cover of Vanity Fair, enthusing, "You made pregnancy look so sexy." The Duchess of Sussex, on the other hand, "just waddled around." As she acknowledged, "I was just tired. So tired. Oh my god."

Williams, who's just the first of many celebrity friends Meghan will reportedly have on her podcast, argued that she was under a significant amount of pressure back then, so the duchess shouldn't be too hard on herself. In fact, the former "Suits" star was expecting Archie during her first ever international royal tour with Prince Harry, while the couple was also renovating their then-home, Frogmore Cottage, at the time, too. 

Markle didn't even go on maternity leave until March 2019, fulfilling her official duties accordingly up until that point. During her second pregnancy, meanwhile, the Sussexes conducted their ground-breaking interview with Oprah Winfrey. Funnily enough, as Cosmopolitan shared, just five months after giving birth to Archie, Markle and Harry attended the WellChild awards, where the prince was overheard reassuring his wife that her post-pregnancy body looked great.

Just a couple of months ago, it seemed Meghan Markle could unexpectedly be in hot water with Spotify after she and Prince Harry neglected to live up to their multimillion-dollar deal with the podcasting giant. To date, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had delivered just one, short podcast episode. Thus, when Meghan's highly-anticipated debut, "Archetypes" finally launched properly this week, fans were understandably expecting something great. 

Unfortunately, the reception has been mixed at best. As The Spectator put it, "Tennis enthusiasts who tune in might be a bit disappointed. The show is in fact all about Meghan, since it takes 11 minutes for Serena to barely get a word in edgeways." They added, "It's hard to believe that it took 28 people, including eight executive producers, to make the episode — plus Meghan herself, who is also listed as an 'executive producer' in the credits."

The Daily Mail went even further, describing the inaugural episode as a "bizarre, saccharine and faintly queasy schmooze-fest between Meghan and 'my dear friend Serena' (as we hear over and over again) [which] tells us next to nothing at all about the making of Serena Williams's towering ambition." The Independent did note, however, "From what we've heard on her podcast, it's clear Markle made the right decision when she cut and ran."