Meghan Markle on track to be become face of Dior after branded as ‘f****** grifters’ by Spotify chief as podcast axed
MEGHAN Markle could be set to sign a major deal with French couture house Dior.
It would maker her the face of the company, alongside big stars such as Rihanna and Jennifer Lawrence.
After Meghan’s podcast is axed by Spotify with her to potentially miss out on an £18 million payout – her Hollywood team have been on a mission to reinvent herself.
A prominent Beverly Hills socialite said that Meghan is “all anyone is talking about” as rumours have been circulating “for weeks” that she’s about to sign a deal with Dior.
The Duchess, 41, is headed by powerhouse agent Ari Emanuel, the chief of talent agency William Morris Endeavor (WME).
A source from WME told the Mail on Sunday: “We knew the Spotify announcement was coming.
‘It might be a shock to everyone else but we’ve been working on the rebranding of Meghan for weeks.
“’Ari is the best in the business when it comes to corporate deals and making money.
“He’s excited to be representing Meghan and has thrown all his energy into it. The offers have been pouring in, including from other podcast platforms.”
The axing was confirmed in a joint statement from Archewell Audio, the couple’s content creation label, and the streaming giant.
It read: “Spotify and Archewell Audio have mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together.”
It means there will be no second series of Archetypes, which ran for 12 episodes from August 2022.
Royal biographer Angela Levin has claimed future projects between the couple will be “a disaster” and told Sun Online: “Their value isn’t as high as it once was.”
Meghan’s talent agency WME – who signed her on in April – said the team behind Archetypes “remain proud” of the podcast they created at Spotify.
But they added: “Meghan is continuing to develop more content for the Archetypes audience on another platform.”
The Sussexes’ £15 million Spotify deal was signed in 2020 but delivered just 13 hours of programming in two and a half years: 12 episodes of Meghan’s Archetypes podcast and a one-off holiday special.
But since both Harry, 38, and Meghan, 41, have been blasted for signing the multi-million pound deal and ditching it after only one series.
Bill Simmons, Head of Podcast Innovation and Monetization at Spotify, slammed the Sussexes’ in his own podcast.
On Friday, the sportswriter said: “The f***ing grifters. That’s the podcast we should have launched with them.
“I’ve got to 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.”
However, reputation crisis expert Eric Schiffer says Team Meghan will use the drama to their advantage and Ari will have a “strategic and tactical battle plan in place” to link her with “sophisticated brand partners, like Dior.”
If Meghan does sign with Dior, she could easily match or even eclipse Johnny Depp’s recent £15 million, three-year deal to remain the face of its men’s fragrance Sauvage.
Meghan has long been a fan of Dior, as she chose to wear head-to-do Dior for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee service.
In February 2019 Meghan and Harry to a brief trip to Morocco while she was six months pregnant, and work a cream gown from Dior.
She also styled it with earnings, and a clutch bag – and all together the outfit apparently cost around £99,000.
Two years ago, she carried a monogrammed version of the iconic Lady Dior bag to a Global Citizen concert in New York.
The bag was named in tribute to Harry’s mother, Princess Diana.
Harry is also proven to be a fan too as he wore a custom-made Dior suit to the King’s Coronation.