Real Housewives’s Andy Cohen takes pop at Meghan Markle over jibe during Spotify podcast

The Real Housewives reality TV franchise host says Meghan Markle failed to tackle him for his critical claim that his show spread negative stereotypes about women.

On her now-deleted Spotify Archetypes podcast, the Duchess of Sussex questioned whether the show, produced by Andy Cohen, creates “caricatures of women”.

However, she did not address her criticism directly to Mr Cohen, even though he was interviewed in the same episode in November last year.

Writing in his new book The Daddy Diaries, Mr Cohen highlighted this, saying: “…in this narration she talks about the difficult conversation it has been for her, mentioning that she has conflicting feelings about the Housewives”, Newsweek reported.

He added, “I think it was interesting that she said it in the narration but didn’t discuss it head-on with me.” Wouldn’t that have made the conversation more dynamic?

Mr Cohen appeared on Archetypes in November last year in what turned out to be the show’s final episode.

It emerged last week that production will not be renewed for a second season despite Meghan and husband Prince Harry signing a £15million deal for the project in 2020.

Mr Cohen said the month after he appeared on Meghan’s show that she was “joyful” to be able to mention during their conversation that he forgot he had met her before she became royal.

On an episode of his SiriusXM show Andy Cohen Live, the TV producer joked that the Duchess threw the skid “in his face”.

Speaking of Real Housewives, Meghan said in the episode titled ‘Mani-festing A Cultural Shift’: ‘I’m conflicted about this.

‘Not about [Cohen’s] success, his rightfully deserved success, but what his success specifically with this franchise was based on.

‘Because this season, as we tackle what archetypes are and how limited they are, on the other hand… are we exploring giving women the space and permission to be exactly who they are also complicated, difficult, funny, silly, etc.?

On her now-deleted Spotify Archetypes podcast, the Duchess of Sussex questioned whether the show, produced by Andy Cohen (above), creates ‘caricatures of women’. However, she did not address her criticism directly to Mr Cohen, even though he was interviewed in the same episode in November last year.

“Or in a franchise like Housewives, are we fueling the fire of archetypes by creating caricatures of women?”

The Duchess then played a clip of an argument over the Real Housewives of New Jersey cheating before saying, “Oh my God.” Oh man, this is hard for me.

“It’s hard because, as you’ve heard, Andy describes this as a feminist show and I want to hear him about it because this drama tends to feed off the kind of women they often feature in the show, or at least one facet of their personality.

“And yes, some might call them stereotypes and I think for that reason people have really – as I explain – mixed feelings about the show and the role the show could play in perpetuating the types of labels we have discussed Archetypes.

“So I thought it was important to really hear Andy about it and get to know him a little better too.”

Mr. Cohen said in his book that he agreed to the interview in the hope that he would have to defend Real Housewives.

He wrote: “I expect to have to stand up for my beloved troupe of Housewives, something I’ve grown used to and love doing.”

The star first opened up about the couple’s conversation on her radio show. Highlighting how she came to terms with his inability to remember they had ever met, he said: ‘She was delighted to tell me, I must say.

“She was so happy to tell me that,” adding, “I get why she would want to throw that in my face, basically.”

“I get it, you know, you never forget how you were treated. You’re still the same person – she’s still Meghan Markle.

Mr Cohen appeared on Archetypes in November last year in what turned out to be the show’s final episode

But he admitted he had no idea Meghan would keep the “awkward” moment alive, saying he “got it” but found the move “interesting” on her part.

“I just have to say I understand why she left that. I thought it was so interesting,” he said.

Cohen went on to imply that he viewed Meghan as a ‘regardless’ person when they first met, saying: ‘First of all, you never know who you meet in a day.

“But look, I obviously didn’t become a Duchess…I became a former talk show host.

“And when I was a young queen, I remember meeting people who were ‘rubbish’, so I think that’s interesting. It’s really interesting.’

Shannon Beador, Judge Tamra, Heather Dubrow, Vicki Gunvalson, Meghan Edmonds of Real Housewives of Orange County

The ‘awkward’ interaction between Meghan and Andy unfolded at the start of their interview, when the TV host told the Duchess it was ‘nice to meet her’ – only for her to respond: ‘ It is good to see you. I already met you, [but] you will never remember it.

Cohen was shocked that he had met the former actress before and Markle went on to explain that she first met at the USA-Bravo event and added that she was a ‘huge fan’ from the executive producer of Real Housewives.

“I was so looking forward to being on your show, because I was such a big Housewives fan at the time, and I just couldn’t get booked Andy!” Meghan said, before joking, “So thank you for being here with me.”

She then noted that the pair met for a second time when she attended a WHHL taping with her Suits costar Gabriel Macht, however, the Duchess was not a guest on the hit show.

Cohen explained that when Markle added that she had come to a WWHL taping “before,” he felt “a little worse.”

He then admitted that rejecting the former actress’ appearance was “the biggest mistake in the show’s 13 years”, adding that he is now “begging” for her to come on the show.