Meghan Markle Speaks About 'Guilt' Of Having A Lot Of Money While Struggling With 'Scarcity Mindset'

Yahoo

4 days ago

Meghan Markle recently got candid about money and how women are often discouraged from discussing finances.
The Duchess of Sussex noted that there is a pervasive "guilt mentality" surrounding the accumulation of wealth, particularly among women.
Meghan Markle's remarks come a month after she released the first products of her lifestyle brand, As Ever, which sold out within minutes.
In the season finale of her podcast "Confessions of a Female Founder," released on May 27, Meghan Markle sat down with Sara Blakely, the self-made billionaire and founder of Spanx, for a candid conversation about mindset, money, and female empowerment.
Blakely urged listeners to develop deeper self-awareness, especially regarding their financial beliefs, by asking questions such as: "What is my mindset on money?"
She explained: "A lot of people don't even realize they have not great narratives around success or around obtaining a lot of financial freedom and money for themselves."
Responding to Blakely's insights, Meghan admitted that adopting such a mindset isn't easy.
"But that is so hard to understand," she said. "Because, I genuinely believe, I would love to adopt that level of a mindset, whereas you're talking about even, for a lot of people, not being able to buy into the hope or the promise of something more for themselves in financial freedom."
Meghan also reflected on how women are often discouraged from engaging in financial conversations altogether.
"I think so many women, especially, we're taught to not even talk about money, and there's lots of guilt mentality surrounding having a lot," she noted. "And at the same time, there's a scarcity mindset that it's easy to attach to, of like, 'I'll never have enough.'"
Blakely emphasized the importance of shifting that perspective, especially for women.
"I always tell women, in particular, I say: 'Money is really fun to make, really fun to spend, and really fun to give away,'" she said. "I think money makes you more of who you already were."
In another part of the episode, Meghan reflected on the often unseen challenges of balancing work and motherhood.
She highlighted how easy it is for others to overlook the constant demands that come with raising young children while managing a career.
"It's something that I think people often forget," Meghan said. "People forget that Lili is 3 and Archie's 5 [now 6]. So you look at the past five, six years of my life, it's with being pregnant or with a newborn or with a toddler, and then another one."
When Blakely asked how the kids were doing, Meghan beamed: "They're so grown!"
Earlier this year, Meghan launched her direct-to-consumer lifestyle brand, As Ever, with its first product drop in March.
The lifestyle brand made an immediate impact, with the initial collection selling out within an hour.
However, looking ahead, Meghan, in an interview with Fast Company, shared that she is taking a thoughtful approach, wanting to analyze feedback from the launch to shape the brand's future.
"I want to really focus on the hospitality angle of As Ever," she explained, "but as we take the learnings, we can understand what the customer's needs are seasonally."
She plans to unveil new products in early 2026.
As Meghan looks ahead to the future of her brand, she's considering various paths, from narrowing her focus to one product category to expanding into a wider range.
For now, though, the duchess feels it's best to build As Ever around a single core idea.
"My heart is very deeply in my home," she told Fast Company. "Everything comes from being rooted in the love story of your home and garden, and then you can imagine different verticals coming out of that."
However, Meghan left the door open for exploring fashion down the line, adding: "The category of fashion is something I will explore at a later date because I do think that's an interesting space for me."