After suffering a big professional embarrassment from Spotify, Meghan Markle is allegedly close to making a big deal with its competitor, Audible.
“Word of mouth is spreading that it will lead to a huge payout—even bigger than the millions Spotify splashed out—and Meghan is thrilled that she’ll be in the company of Michelle and Barack Obama, who signed a multi-year contract with Audible last year,” a source told “The Mirror.”
Meghan, who the source said “seems very confident at the moment” in the potential deal, “knows her new deal with Audible could be make or break for her Hollywood dream.”
The Duchess of Sussex, 42, and her husband Prince Harry, 39, have been the subjects of ridicule – and mockery on “Family Guy” – for their multi million dollar deals with Netflix and Spotify, which haven’t produced much content.
TV presenter Nick Ede, a former friend of Markle, said that he thinks the couple didn’t realize they’d have to work this hard to make it big in Hollywood.
“I think they came in and thought that [they would be] the number one people on the block and they’re not really,” Ede, who says he lost contact with Markle when she started dating the Duke of Sussex, told the Express.
“They’re kind of quite far down really in that pecking order,” Ede continued. “And I think that’s been an issue with them, in that sense of stepping down…The thing is that you forget that in Hollywood, royalty isn’t somebody with a title. It’s J. Lo, it’s Sharon Stone, it’s Beyoncé, it’s the Kardashians. That’s their royalty.”
The Sussexes Netflix deal, which is reportedly in the neighborhood of $100 million, reportedly won’t end following their split with Spotify. Their Archwell Studios production company has put out their “Harry & Meghan” docuseries for the platform, as well as “Heart of Invictus” about the Invictus Games.
However, their $20 million Spotify deal collapsed in June.
The deal, originally brokered in 2020, produced the series “Archetypes,” a 12-episode podcast hosted by Meghan that saw her sit down with artists, athletes, and experts to discuss the history of stereotypes against women.
The couple’s Archewell media company reportedly didn’t produce enough content to receive the full payout of the roughly $20 million deal the couple signed in 2020.
The news came after a struggling Spotify announced a cut of 200 jobs.
In a joint statement to The Post at the time, Spotify and Archewell Audio said they have “mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together.”
“Meghan is continuing to develop more content for the Archetypes audience on another platform,” an Archewell Productions spokeswoman added to The Wall Street Journal.
In June 2023 during an episode of “The Bills Simmons Podcast,” the titular host called the couple of being modern-day swindlers.
“‘The F–king Grifters.’ That’s the podcast we shoulda launched with them,” said Simmons, the Ringer founder and head of podcast innovation and monetization at Spotify. “I gotta get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to try and help him with a podcast idea. It’s one of my best stories.”
“She feels ready, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t seriously daunting,” the source told The Mirror, about Markle’s potential deal with Audible.
“The stakes are extremely high.”
The Post reached out to Markle’s reps for comment.
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