Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have been making headlines nonstop ever since they stepped back from royal duties in 2020. That decision might have been enough drama for most people, but the controversies surrounding Markle have only grown louder in the years since. From accusations of bullying to claims about staff quitting and rumors of her being an icy boss, the scrutiny has come at her from every angle. Now, some fresh bitterness from her former employees has bubbled to the surface—and it is all tied to a biting nickname.

Staff who worked on Markle’s short-lived Spotify podcast, Archetypes, reportedly gave her a nickname inspired by a terrifying film character. 

Meghan Markle’s former Spotify podcast staffers reportedly gave the Duchess of Sussex a stinging nickname during her time producing the now-canceled Archetypes podcast series. According to royal correspondent Neil Sean, who spoke during an interview with Fox News, employees allegedly referred to Markle as “Eva,” a nod to Joan Crawford’s ruthless character Eva Phillips in the 1955 film Queen Bee. Sean explained, “This is because, like the Joan character, she stung her victims to pieces.”

The Duchess “had no idea about” the Joan Crawford-inspired nickname, Sean said, citing his source. But that was not all. In a recent Vanity Fair bombshell piece, one of Markle’s former Spotify staffers described her as acting like a “Mean Girls’ teenager,” calling their experience “awful” and “painful.” Two other sources claimed that a colleague jumped ship after just three episodes of Archetypes, while others took “extended breaks” just to escape the pressure. These reports added fuel to similar complaints about her work ethic from last year.

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In a Hollywood Reporter story from September, a source close to the Sussexes referred to Markle as a “dictator in high heels.” However, despite the harsh criticism, many of her defenders have since come forward to push back on these claims and stand by her side.

Last year, several staff members who worked with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry spoke to Us Weekly and painted a very different picture of the Duchess as a boss. Among them was Ashley Hansen, along with former chief of staff Josh Kettler, Catherine St-Laurent, and Ben Browning, who used to be their head of content. All of them had nothing but praise for Markle and the way she ran things.

Mandana Dayani, who was the former president and COO, even shared a heartwarming story to show just how kind Markle can be. In contrast to the negative stories, former bodyguard Steve Davies also said he “felt sorry” for Markle more than anything because of the “stressful” publicity, in an interview with InTouch Weekly. With such conflicting stories, it is hard to figure out which version of events is real.

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