Meghan Markle Hires Fact Checker for ‘Archetypes’ Podcast Following Numerous Exaggerated Stories
Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex arrives at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, on October 01, 2019. – Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, is meeting academics and students to discuss the challenges faced by young women in accessing higher education. (Photo by Michele Spatari / AFP) (Photo by MICHELE SPATARI/AFP via Getty Images)
Meghan Markle’s Spotify podcast Archetypes returned Tuesday following a hiatus for the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
The podcast also welcomed a new hire during the process, Nicole Pasulka, whose work has appeared in Vice and Buzzfeed.
The Daily Mail’s Richard Eden revealed earlier Tuesday that Pasulka will serve as a fact checker for the show. In its current format, it’s unclear what role a fact checker will serve in the conversational podcast but perhaps a shift in content is on the horizon.
Pasulka’s website advertises that the writer cares about many passionate topics that align with Markle’s persona for social activism including “criminal justice, activism, race, music, business, queer culture, and gender.”
She recently published a book, How You Get Famous, following the rebirth of the drag show scene in Brooklyn, NY over the last decade.
The hiring of a fact checker, comes after Markle’s podcast has been heavily scrutinized by the media and previous stories she has told in interviews seem to be exaggerated.
A story involving a fire in her son Archie’s nursery during a visit to South Africa quickly went viral after her first episode debuted.
Palace insiders confirm there was smoke coming from a heater in the baby’s room, not a fire, and the child was not in any danger.
In a recent interview for The Cut, Markle also recalled chatting with a cast member from the premiere of the 2019 film, The Lion King. Markle claimed the man told her, “I just need you to know: When you married into this family, we rejoiced in the streets the same we did when Mandela was freed from prison.”
She drew sharp criticism for the comment, even from the Mandela family.
The cast member she alluded to meeting later clarified that he’s never met Markle and was not at the 2019 event.
In recent days, Markle and husband Prince Harry announced they would be parting ways with their US-based PR team opting to handle matters in-house and turning to PR guru Christine Weil Schirmer for the job.
It may seem that in the wake of the queen’s passing, Markle and Harry could very well be re-branding as the couple and their children moved up in the line of succession.
