Well, I was wrong about the Duchess of Sussex’s Confessions of a Female Founder. When we heard the trailer, I was sure that Khloe Kardashian was one of the women being interviewed, but nope! COAFF’s final Season 1 episode dropped this week, and the interview isn’t with Khloe, but Spanx’s Sara Blakely. First off, I think Meghan’s second podcast foray has been wildly successful, and Lemonada seems to be a much more supportive partner for her. COAFF has been higher quality across the board – better editing, better interviews, and Meghan just seems so much more comfortable as a podcaster. All of which to say, I hope that there’s a second season of COAFF coming at some point, because I really love it.
In the last COAFF episode of Season 1, Meghan and Sara Blakely chatted for some time about their kids – I didn’t realize (and neither did Meghan) that Blakely had four children as she was building Spanx. Meghan was surprised! Meghan ended up talking about her pregnancies and how she wore high heels through both pregnancies.
Meghan Markle got candid about her pregnancies with son Archie, 6, and daughter Lilibet, almost 4, on the finale of the first season of her Lemonada Media podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder. In the eighth and final episode, which aired on Tuesday, May 27, the Duchess of Sussex spoke with Spanx founder Sara Blakely, who discussed the origins of her sneaker heel, reminding Markle of her own experiences with heels during her pregnancies.
“A friend just said to me the other day, they were like, ‘I just saw this picture I’d forgotten about when you were so pregnant with Archie,’ ” Markle recalled of 2019, when she was still a working member of the royal family and making public appearances while pregnant.
The Suits alum shared that she “gained 65 Lbs. with both pregnancies,” but that didn’t stop her from sporting impressive heels during her official royal appearances.
“I always wear my five-inch, pointy-toed stilettos,” she admitted, adding that her friend was shocked by the photo. “‘You have the most enormous bump and your tiny little ankles are bracing themselves in these high heels,’ but all my weight was in the front. So you’re just going, how on Earth am I not just tipping, you know, face planting? I was clinging very closely to my husband, like, ‘Please don’t let me fall.’ “
Meghan has indicated in other interviews that she didn’t really enjoy her pregnancies, but I always thought she carried well and she looked really cute. During her first pregnancy, they were really mad about that – that she still looked so cute, that she was still able to get around and travel (in heels). Her high heels became yet another thing that broke fictitious protocol too, that’s how mad they were that Meghan was so active during her pregnancy.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
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- ** RIGHTS: ONLY UNITED STATES, BRAZIL, CANADA ** Twickenham, UNITED KINGDOM – A pregnant Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, is glowing as she makes a visit to the Royal Variety residential care home at Brinsworth House, Twickenham. Pictured: Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 17 DECEMBER 2018 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- ** RIGHTS: ONLY UNITED STATES, BRAZIL, CANADA ** Twickenham, UNITED KINGDOM – A pregnant Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, is glowing as she makes a visit to the Royal Variety residential care home at Brinsworth House, Twickenham. Pictured: Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 17 DECEMBER 2018 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- ** RIGHTS: ONLY UNITED STATES, BRAZIL, CANADA ** Twickenham, UNITED KINGDOM – A pregnant Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, is glowing as she makes a visit to the Royal Variety residential care home at Brinsworth House, Twickenham. Pictured: Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 17 DECEMBER 2018 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- ** RIGHTS: ONLY UNITED STATES, BRAZIL, CANADA ** London, UNITED KINGDOM – A pregnant Meghan Markle, is glowing as she makes a visit to the Royal Variety residential care home at Brinsworth House, Twickenham. Pictured: Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex BACKGRID USA 18 DECEMBER 2018 BYLINE MUST READ: Zed Jameson / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- ** RIGHTS: ONLY UNITED STATES, BRAZIL, CANADA ** London, UNITED KINGDOM – A pregnant Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, is pictured greeting members of the public while leaving an engagement with the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) after meeting with students and academics from across the ACU’s network. Pictured: Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex BACKGRID USA 31 JANUARY 2019 BYLINE MUST READ: ZJ / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- ** RIGHTS: ONLY UNITED STATES, BRAZIL, CANADA ** London, UNITED KINGDOM – A pregnant Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, is pictured greeting members of the public while leaving an engagement with the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) after meeting with students and academics from across the ACU’s network. Pictured: Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex BACKGRID USA 31 JANUARY 2019 BYLINE MUST READ: ZJ / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- ** RIGHTS: WORLDWIDE EXCEPT IN FRANCE, GERMANY, POLAND, SWITZERLAND ** New York, NY – Pregnant Meghan Markle and Abigail Spencer enjoy a girls lunch at The Surrey Hotel in New York. The pair were headed back to their hotel to prepare for Meghan’s baby shower. Pictured: Abigail Spencer, Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 19 FEBRUARY 2019 BYLINE MUST READ: Skyler2018 / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- The Duchess of Sussex attends a reception at Buckingham Palace in London to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the investiture of the Prince of Wales.
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- The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the Princess Royal (right) attend a reception at Buckingham Palace in London to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the investiture of the Prince of Wales.
People are going to look back at pictures from now and all those 5 inch heels are going to look so strange to them.
Honestly, I am old enough to not exactly recall if I wore heels, but I think I did. Not very high pumps with a sturdy 1 1/2 or maybe 2 inch heel if we were doing something like going dancing. But mostly sneakers. With leg warmers, for aerobics 😃
I’ve never worn a 5 inch heel but bless Meghan that she can! It’s astonishing how every sprain, strain, and injury shows up in your ankles as you age. I am very envious of Meghan’s slim ankles!
I hope they mean 65 lbs across both pregnancies because 65 lbs where in her first pregnancy?! She carried so well with both, but we got to see more with Archie of course. But yeah, they were big mad that Meghan changed the pregnancy fashion/visibility game…I honestly don’t even know if the rota was truly mad or if KP and CH were frantically trying to shame her into hiding…The rota should have wanted more royal pregnancy content.
I remember the pregnancy heels, the rota went nuts over it. Also, that’s when the weird people started saying it was a fake pregnancy. Apparently wearing heels made it fake. However Kate also wore very high heels while pregnant.
Meghan had wore stilettos her whole adult life, and 12 hours a day filming. Plus her yoga background so she had the musculature. It’s not that surprising.
The ramp up of the hatred was when she was pregnant so this was a good excuse.
But of course, they criticised Meghan for things that it was OK for Kate to do.
She gained 65lbs with EACH pregnancy.
She really was cute. Her dress and coat game was on point and she never seemed to teeter on her heels. I cannot imagine 5 inch heels ever. But seeing her in all those cute fits while pregnant really just reminds how much she actually worked during her pregnancy and late into her pregnancy. For being in the uk less than 2 years, there are just so many photos of her during that time. And she was doing a lot for the firm while pregnant.
Which is why we know them claiming she took seven months off is a lie.
A definite lie. The pictures tell the truth in this case. She was sent to Morocco when she was how many months pregnant??
I think that was one of the things that burned them up with the vogue issue – it was clear proof that she never took any significant time off. She worked throughout that summer on Vogue and the smart set. I mean heck she worked more that summer when on “maternity leave” than Kate does in a normal summer.
For those of you who have carried pregnancy to term, how much was the weight gain was in the last trimester? I was in an antidepressant that had me gain a lot of weight really quickly and it killed my back. I was in so much pain! Ever since then I’ve been working on my posture. Hers is impeccable so I’m wondering if that helped at all.
I stopped counting with both my pregnancies after 40 lbs (which I hit by 25-30 weeks.) I was super swollen though and retained a ton of water.
With my 3 daughter pregnancies, the 3rd trimester weight gains were awful (I gained 45, 55 and 65 lbs during those) All water weight, mostly in the legs and feet. She’s lucky she was able to keep squeezing into those shoes!
With my son, it was a cool 22 pound weight gain. I really didn’t consciously behave so very differently any of those times 🤔 Guess I was just allergic to all that estrogen!
I don’t know how much gained in the last trimester, I think I was around 40-45 total the first time, close to 60 the second. I do know, for me I lost 25 pounds both times at a week after birth. I had comically huge placentas, according to the midwives, and one baby was 9 pounds.
It’s amazing how beautiful and youthful she looked when she’s pregnant. She’s already gorgeous, so for her to look even more gorgeous during her pregnancies had to annoyed the others. Her pregnancy face was so full and reminded me of how young and beautiful she was in her teenage photos. Not only was she gorgeous but she was still accomplishing so much during that time. She started off announcing their pregnancy during their first ever tour together (Oceania Tour) and she ended that pregnancy heavily pregnant on tour in Morocco. She came out of her pregnancy with the Hubb community kitchen already renovated and functioning and the capsule project and fastest selling Vogue edition in history. She was running circles around the other royals even heavily pregnant wearing stilettos.
I really enjoyed this podcast and I hope there’s going to be a season 2.
Everyone in my lifetime who wore “FM” 🤣😉 heels 24/7 wore them even during pregnancy because they said that they didn’t feel comfortable wearing flats because those stilettos had given them high arches! When you wear those shoes you are CONSTANTLY giving your legs and core an EXTREME workout…like a ballerina…and you couple THAT with Meghan’s DECADES of Yoga discipline…I wasn’t surprised at all❣️
It seemed more that she was used to it after all those years on suits. Long long days in heels. Plus a life time of yoga. Strange no one mentioned Kate wearing high heels while pregnant. I wonder why?
Exactly this . Kate wasn’t wearing flat shoes and sneakers through three pregnancies ..why are they on Meghans case now . Kate is tall ,so she didn’t need to hoist herself higher. As someone who always wore at least two or three inch heels, and also did ballet , I feel very uncomfortable in flat shoes ..my arches and tendons are stretched already but my family vetoed even the smallest heels when I was expecting . I suspect it’s the same with Meghan who also has the most delicate ankles ever . As for the Middleton who even cares?
I agree – I have LOVED these podcasts – I want more more more!!
I actually wore heels a lot during my pregnancy. I found they pushed my hips forward and made my posture better. Helped a lot. I have come to find out I’m weird and no one else agrees with that haha.
I watched a YouTube video on walking in stilettos. The trick is GOOD POSTURE!!! If you keep your head/chin up and shoulders back, when you put your weight on the left foot, your right hip and leg are free to move/swing forward in a natural straight line. If you lean forward or drop your head, it changes your posture and your leg isn’t freed. You can only lift and plot forward, in a very ugly manor. You WERE RIGHT! 🙂
I had no idea the heels she was wearing were 5 inches! Lol they looked like the typical 3 inches which is making me realize how short Meghan is. I echo everyone else when I say I’m so sad COAFF is over! I really hope there is a 2nd season.
I’ve really enjoyed this first season of COAFF. Aside from being female, I have almost nothing in common with Meghan or her guests, but their stories have been interesting and the time flew by. Looking forward to another season.
I only have one experience with spanx and that’s helping my sister into it for her mother of the bride dress. It was so intimate and we were in a room with three way mirrors. I pulled and bent and struggled and thought, this is more than a husband would see lol. When my sister spoke at the wedding and made her thank yous I thought, you should be thanking me for helping you get into those spanx!
Spanx are like medieval torture devices 😹
I wore 4″ heels regularly while pregnant and didn’t think much about it until I hit week 39 and waddled into a meeting in my pregnancy suit and my boss was like girlllll, it might be time to retire the heels until that baby shows up.
I stopped wearing them during COVID and have only recently gone back to a 3.5″ consistently as I am in a different role that’s requiring a lot of community facing/govt facing work in suits-I don’t think I’ll ever be back in my 4″ and 5″ except for very special occasions.
She looked great while pregnant even if she was tired and uncomfortable. My feet were so swollen I could only wear Birkenstock’s and sneakers the last trimester so how she wore those heels are courtesy of delicate feet and a strong core. This last podcast was a bit wild for me. The way Blakely speaks and her belief in intuition and how frank she is discussing money really throws me but it’s also refreshing to hear it. I kind of wish Meghan would do a season recap of some of the best moments for her and how she applied them to her business. Also what’s happening with AsEver because the calls for a restock are getting louder mama.
That cream and gold outfit on Meghan is gorgeous. How she managed to look so polished during pregnancy is a wonder.
Meghan’s pregnancy with Lili was completely out of the spotlight so hope she had the chance to just wander around her home in Birkenstocks and comfy mumus. Five inch heels were always beyond me. Three is all I can manage.