Meghan Markle’s latest podcast episode included a surprise appearance by her mother, Doria Ragland. Although the guest cameo by Ragland was accidental, it was perfectly appropriate for the subject matter of the episode.
The latest iteration of Archetypes was called “Good Wife/Bad Wife, Good Mom/Bad Mom,” and focused on the standards society puts on women to be the perfect partner and parent. As Markle discussed these unrealistic standards, she received a phone call from Ragland and was immediately ushered back to her childhood.
‘Hey Mommy’
In the process of recording the podcast episode, the duchess happened to receive a call from her own mother. Markle interrupted her interview once she saw that Ragland was calling her via Facetime. “All right. So the first one is you said—oh sugar, my mom’s FaceTiming me,” Markle shares. “Hey, Mommy!”
Ragland began the call by asking Markle how she was doing, to which the duchess shared that she was in the middle of recording. Ragland confirmed that she could tell her daughter was recording because Markle had “on a smiley face.”
The sweet mother-daughter moment ended with a shared “I love you.” Finally, Ragland reminded Markle of their plans to meet over the weekend.
Following the sweet moment, the Duchess of Sussex remarked about something her mom did on the call. “My mom did this thing,” admitted Markle.
“You may have heard this clicking sound that she was doing. My mom literally just pulled out a reference of what I came up with as a cool handshake to do with her when I was about eight, which was snap, scissors, cut, chicken wing,” she continued. “I’m 41 years old and she’s like, okay—that’s great.”
My Mom ‘Supported Me…And The House And Herself’
As the duchess got back to the interview, she reflected on what it was like to be interrupted by her mom. “It just put me right back into the past,” she remarked.
“Thinking about my childhood, our little quirks together … and then, with this episode on my brain, it got me thinking about all the ways my mom supported me, how she took care of me and the house and herself…and how she just juggled so much.”
Markle went on to remark, “The amount that women carry, that they navigate—it’s immense. And it’s often the most thankless, unpaid labor there is. There’s no union. There’s no lunch break. There’s nothing like that.”
“At home, women just work really, really hard. And a lot of that work is borne out of necessity. But so much of it is also borne out of expectations … the idea that we need to fit the exact cookie cutter shape the world wants to jam us into.”
Throughout the episode, Markle reflected on the weight that many women carry as wives and mothers. More often than not, society expects them to be the primary caretakers for their children and their homes. On top of that, women must also care for themselves and work outside the home.
However, Markle has hope that women will “break free of what’s expected of [them].” This is just one of many lessons Markle has learned from her own mom.