Meghan Markle reveals Tyler Perry is her ‘sounding board' for various business ventures after pausing As Ever rollout

Sky News AU

2 days ago

Meghan Markle has released a bonus episode of her Lemonada podcast series and revealed the celebrity friend who has guided her various business ventures.
Markle, 43, launched Confessions of a Female Founder in April as a weekly series in which the ex-working royal chats to high-profile businesswomen.
The Duchess of Sussex spoke to the likes of Bumble's Whitney Wolfe Herd, Cassandra Thurswell of Kitsch and IT Cosmetics' Jamie Kern Lima for the project.
Markle also used the podcast as a platform to interview the heads of companies she has a financial stake in, including Clevr Blends' Hannah Mendoza and Kadi Lee of Highbrow Hippie.
Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx was the guest on the eighth and "final" episode that was released last week.
In a twist, Markle made a major U-turn days later and opted to announce a surprise 'bonus' episode of the series featuring an unknown 'matriarch'.
Instead of profiling another businesswoman, Markle returned to her showbiz routes by interviewing Tina Knowles – the mother of A-list popstar Beyonce- for the bonus ep.
The 'bonus' episode, which dropped on Tuesday, saw Knowles speak about her own business ventures and largely skirted around discussing Beyonce.
But between advertisements for LinkedIn and home meal delivery services, the Duchess of Sussex managed to squeeze in a few Beyonce mentions.
'Beyonce and I are the same age,' Markle reminded Knowles at one point.
Later, the Knowles matriarch gamely revealed that Beyonce and Meghan both have their own beehives on their properties.
Tina also brought up her and Meghan's mutual friend Tyler Perry, who possibly teed up the interview with Knowles in the first place.
'Tyler talks about you,' Knowles told the ex-working royal, in reference to the billionaire film producer.
Mr Perry is understood to be close to the Sussexes and serves as their daughter Lilibet's godfather, although he was not invited to their 2018 wedding.
The film producer is also rumoured to be the secret donor who singlehandedly gave a whopping $16 million donation to the Sussexes' Archewell charity organisation.
'He's the most extraordinary soundboard – he is that person that when I have questions about business or just feel like I'm off (my) path I need to check in with Tyler,' Markle replied.
'He's a great friend to have.'
The revelation comes after Markle announced she was planning to "step back" and "assess" her fledging As Ever brand before relaunching more products.