Consciously Uncoupled: Harry, Meghan and Oprah (and Piers)
Added 2021-06-29 08:00:03 +0000 UTCIt's bonus episode time, team!
To go along with our recent Oprahsodes, today's bonus episode is all about Harry, Meghan, Oprah, and the British royal family. And it's a double bonus because we're joined by your favorite and ours, Kimberly Springer! Along the way, we talk about Oprah's role as an early parasocial fave, Piers Morgan's absolute horseshit and the class implications of cutting toast.
As ever, you can play today's episode directly through Patreon, or you can use our RSS feed to add it to your podcast app. Here are the instructions from Patreon.
If you've got particular topics you'd love to see us cover on these bonus episodes—conversations that don't quite fit the main feed's focus on wellness and weight loss—feel free to leave those in the comments. We'd love to hear them!
We are overwhelmed and overjoyed that so many of you all are enjoying the show. Thank you so much for all your support, maintainers. It means the world.
See you in July!
A&M
Comments
Late to this party but I just had to go ask my boyfriend which way of cutting toast or sandwiches is the "posh way" and confirm that it is definitely triangles cause these guys had me doubting my sense of reality ahahaha. It's not that I don't know that class is baked and calcified into UK culture but it's so hard to recognise examples from inside of it that it feels crazy to have it called out
Fuchsia
2025-05-23 17:46:30 +0000 UTCI know I chose to listen to this, but I'm still mad that I heard Piers Morgan speak
Mohini Lal
2025-02-25 22:12:58 +0000 UTCI wish I remembered the brand but I definitely saw very racist dolls in England. I want to say they were a mascot for a gum company?
Shannon
2025-02-03 14:47:43 +0000 UTCOk but like really thinks the royal family isn’t racist?
Sarah W.
2024-03-26 02:54:49 +0000 UTCJust wanted to add you guys left out the best/most ridiculous part of the whole Piers Morgan…he’s married and he was married during that whole “date” thing with Megan, the man is just literally deranged lmao.
Yuri
2023-05-16 18:27:31 +0000 UTCyes, she and Diana famously did not get along
coffinrehearsal
2023-04-08 22:49:49 +0000 UTClike most upper class affectations, i always found triangular toast tacky also those outside the UK may not know Princess Michael of Kent but she's a notorious piece of shit, one of those minor royal-adjecent nobs who just comes off as deeply unpleasant
Nemo
2023-03-03 17:18:30 +0000 UTCSame! xD
Savanna LaMaison
2022-12-28 23:13:41 +0000 UTCOkay Pierce, let's completely cut off the person of color to justify your abhorrent behavior. Good lord.
Savanna LaMaison
2022-12-28 23:13:17 +0000 UTCReally liking the episode. I disagree slightly about the UK & European view of race. It's not so much that the British don't understand racism, it's that there's a very malicious commitment to gaslighting about racism. It's so engrained that, it's almost invisible if you don't know what you're looking for and you get made to feel like you're crazy for pointing it out.
Tariyé Peterside
2022-12-14 16:05:25 +0000 UTCPara social relationships.... I'm totally friends with Mike and Aubrey in my mind!
Rebecca R. Nowak
2022-11-08 12:21:32 +0000 UTCAs a British person, your take on the British press and class is fascinating!
Melanie Hockenhull
2022-09-27 19:40:05 +0000 UTCLove this so much, I’d listen to you two talk about anything and everything!
Emily
2022-03-29 09:46:09 +0000 UTCHey this episode inspired me to go get my own blackmore brooch (yes I'm kidding but umm yes you can get your own if you have 38k lying around ...) https://eleuteri.nyc/collections/cartier-blackamoor-brooch/
Lise Dale
2022-03-13 14:55:58 +0000 UTCA&M are my best parasocial friends
Lynda Mantle
2022-03-03 21:42:09 +0000 UTCIn defense of scooping out a bagel, the only people I know who did that were my old Jewish grandparents to allow for more shmear or white fish salad. 🤣
Emily Kurzweil
2022-02-25 19:02:08 +0000 UTCThe way people talk about people faking mental health issues or sexual assault in a way to get famous is the same way I feel about people who claim young people are pretending to be trans for attention: you don’t get much out of it and things don’t tend to work out well so it’d be a pretty stupid thing to lie about
Asher Lewis
2022-02-23 03:08:50 +0000 UTCThis episode was so much fun to listen to, Aubrey’s laugh is so contagious
Charlotte
2022-02-22 20:14:33 +0000 UTC😂😂 only up to the bit with the toast and when the boyfriend says you cut it in a lower class way, in my head I’m like oop didn’t cut it in triangles, like without ever having even thought about it my brain knew that triangles are the higher class way 😂😂 (which of course was then confirmed)
Alison Finch
2022-02-22 18:01:43 +0000 UTCNew patron here because I ran out of episodes out in the public sphere. Just wanna say, as a Canadian who lived in the UK for six years, YES! YES! The pervasive classism! The white English people in particular pulling 'the race card' argument to deflect looking at how Very Much Racist white English culture is! One observation I've made, having lived in a few colonized countries and being born in one, is how all the other white supremacist countries REALLY LIKE to scapegoat the US like the racist uncle AKA the 'bad' white people v. the 'good' white people. Anyhoo, this was a delight to listen to.
Kait Hatch
2022-02-15 03:02:28 +0000 UTCThe toast shape thing made me laugh! I am completely in agreement that triangle toast (and sandwiches) are posher, but I think of it more as a special occasion thing than a class thing exactly…. Sandwiches/toast at home can be rectangles but if I’m buying posh ones from Pret or eating toast at a hotel breakfast or something, I DEFINITELY want triangles. (Though to be fair, I bet the queen only eats triangles. Probably with the crusts cut off 😁)
Jennie Brotherston
2021-12-05 22:57:06 +0000 UTCThe podcast ‘Missing Richard Simmons’ has got you on some of this…
Kysa Meyerer
2021-12-04 20:43:29 +0000 UTCAs an English listener, I’m wondering if the shape of toast is more of a big deal in the South? Also, Northerners are much better at being friendly and bonding (we are a tiny country but 150 miles makes a HUGE difference culturally!)
Jenlovestea
2021-10-24 20:59:29 +0000 UTCMike going “doodle-oodle-do” before the sound made me way too happy
Riley MacKinnon
2021-10-06 01:38:58 +0000 UTCI agree, however, I took their comments about being cutoff to be more specific to security. By nature of being the Queen’s grandson, his life and his family’s lives are in danger. This wasn’t self inflicted or desired, he was born into it and his and his immediate family’s threats are intensified because he married a woman of color. The security costs alone would quickly erode even a 60m nest egg. And since his relationship to the Queen is the cause of the ongoing security threats, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for the Queen to bear some of those costs.
Kimberly Druckenmiller
2021-10-05 18:26:45 +0000 UTCI really enjoyed Kimberly's presence. I love her energy and the vibe she has with you two. Please have her on more!
Hannah Lee
2021-09-28 04:17:07 +0000 UTCI recently read an essay of "U-words" and "Non-U words", which I guess stands for upperclass and not upperclass and the words each group uses that reveals where they fit, written by some awful posh woman (a mitford sister, maybe?) . Like lavatory versus toilet. It's crazy! You would think accent would be enough
Amanda Gibson
2021-09-13 11:39:52 +0000 UTCMy issue with Oprah's interview was that she let Harry and Meghan talk about being "completely cut off" financially. As if we were to pity a couple in their Montecito mansion with a net worth of $60 million dollars. I think if Harry doesn't want to fulfill the work responsibilities of a senior royal then he shouldn't get paid for them. And that's ok because he's still super rich. To me, Oprah is not relatable because she is a billionaire and she has forgotten what life is like outside of her circle of the uber-rich.
Julie Butler
2021-09-12 18:45:20 +0000 UTCAmanda, i was brought up that carrots cut into short batons were posh and ones cut as circles were not posh
Claire Birnie
2021-09-11 15:08:49 +0000 UTCI would like to know what that is, if you ever see this! :)
Amanda Gibson
2021-09-11 15:03:46 +0000 UTCI need some sort of merch with bitch-ass crown jockeys on it immediately, pls
Melissa Godsey
2021-09-03 00:31:01 +0000 UTCCharles’s and his mother Elizabeth have royal homes right now that are filled with racist paintings home decor .
Stephanie Eden
2021-09-02 05:32:19 +0000 UTCOh my god yes the toast cutting!!! I'm british and I remember vividly learning about "the posh way to cut carrots " but also how easily I repeated it in my mid twenties without thinking
Claire Birnie
2021-08-30 19:40:38 +0000 UTCThat’s a fair point. It’s highly unlikely he’ll ever be king, so it’s very easy for people to criticize them without appearing to be criticizing the crown. I’m sure there are many royalists who deep down know it’s all bullshit that they shouldn’t support, but they’re still reckoning with that personally (and collectively as a nation). Harry & Meghan are a “safe” outlet for negative feelings.
Sally MacKenzie
2021-08-28 14:50:10 +0000 UTCIf you were wondering JUST HOW MUCH Piers Morgan plays into that "my first reverse racism" starter kit, when Janet Mock critiqued the super titles / promotion of her segment, he literally had a panel of people come on to validate his feelings and say that he was fine. (they didn't) https://www.cnn.com/videos/bestoftv/2014/02/06/exp-pmt-janet-mock-amy-holmes-marc-lamont-hill-ben-ferguson.cnn
Christina McPants
2021-08-23 13:11:01 +0000 UTCMmm I’m English and regarding toast cutting I think you’re ex was having a laugh!!
Sarah Drizen
2021-08-16 02:35:59 +0000 UTCI'm curious. I do believe race played a part kn the way the media went after meghan. BUT I also think the fact that Harry isn't really inline to throne, meant consequences of criticising Meghan or Harry weren't there like they could be with Wills and Kate, in that Kate will be Queen.... make sense??
Carly Brindley
2021-08-16 00:45:57 +0000 UTCLiterally signed up for your Patreon for this bonus episode 🤣
Erin Lynn
2021-08-03 22:25:15 +0000 UTCAubrey, you are my aspirational friend.
Alicia Cary-Howell
2021-08-02 21:29:01 +0000 UTCWould wear a shirt with “What if I had a bagel but made it sad?” in a heartbeat
Maggie Galloway
2021-07-30 08:06:04 +0000 UTCCan y’all please tell me the story of Richard Simmons. I started watching his workout videos on YouTube the other day and I need to know more about him and his empire. If I remember correctly he kind of disappeared from public life?
Suzanne Polzkill
2021-07-27 13:09:07 +0000 UTCDid I miss the bonus content last week??? More. Michael. And. Aubrey. Pleeeeeeez!
anna chang
2021-07-21 01:36:47 +0000 UTCNot sure where to add this comment but please put “podcast” somewhere on your merch 🙏🏻 my mil saw my shirt and nod in agreement as if to say “yes, you are in the maintenance phase - good job.” Which totally missed the point 🤦🏻♀️ now when I wear my t shirt I can’t help but think people see me as advertising being in maintenance phase halp
Christine Newell Snyder
2021-07-20 19:32:47 +0000 UTCThe Blackamoor brooch actually portrays a black prince. So it could even have been framed as totally appropriate. Of course it wasn't, because Princess Michael probably has no idea :-D
Vera Horvath
2021-07-20 12:30:56 +0000 UTCHot take episode idea! Can you do one on “good” vs “bad” gut bacteria? Instagram influencers loooove to talk about gut bacteria
Halle Kevern
2021-07-18 12:06:55 +0000 UTCSecond but here please!
Laurie Joy Johnson
2021-07-16 06:27:20 +0000 UTCTalk about Britney pleaaaaaseeeeee (either here or on YWA)
Lucia Ortiz
2021-07-15 18:38:54 +0000 UTCI've heard bad audio on podcasts, but Kimberly's audio quality is some of the worst I've ever heard. Can we help buy her a better microphone?
kangaroocheesesticks
2021-07-14 23:18:33 +0000 UTCBoth of your laughter is wonderful to hear, sometimes the only time I feel like I’m laughing with friends. Your speaking voices are wonderful too. Keep up the great work. Deb
Debbie Scholtes
2021-07-09 06:54:38 +0000 UTCI got put in Twitter jail because I said a certain member of the British Royal Family was racist for wearing a brooch mentioned in this episode! My account is locked and I've never rooted out the PMoK stan among my followers!
Meg Anderson-King
2021-07-06 22:50:59 +0000 UTCWeight loss sketchers...please I would love to hear y’all dive into trends like that!
Riley
2021-07-05 21:21:57 +0000 UTCI think it's also a reflection of the multiple streams of 'news' (and I'm using the term very generally here). People don't just have one source of drivel to read now, so there are more avenues for the gobshites to spout their poisonous rubbish. The behaviour of Piers Morgan et. al. is an embarrassment to most of the British public.
Caroline Gerrard
2021-07-05 16:35:54 +0000 UTCI immigrated to the UK a couple of years ago and had to learn things like proper toast etiquette as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if “how to cut your toast” is part of the “Live in Britain” test you have to do if you want the British citizenship
Katrin Willms
2021-07-05 14:29:56 +0000 UTCListened to this episode quite late, but in any case: i think it could be that people did react differently to Lady Diana’s interview because it was in the 1990. The economy was doing better (I think) and the situation was different. In March 2021 the situation in the U.K. was still pretty apocalyptic because of CoVid, many people lost loved ones without being able to have a funeral, people lost their livelihoods, hadn’t seen friends in relatives in more than a year….. maybe the poll would have looked differently at a different point in time
Katrin Willms
2021-07-05 14:24:41 +0000 UTCThe comments were particularly "interesting."
Renee MeowMeow Beans
2021-07-04 13:42:55 +0000 UTCIf this is still a useful space to offer a suggestion for topics, I'd be super interested in a discussion on the use of "the fat suit. There was an article in Jezebel that disected this: https://jezebel.com/the-enduring-spectacle-of-fat-suits-in-hollywood-1847019823
Renee MeowMeow Beans
2021-07-04 13:42:15 +0000 UTChttps://vm.tiktok.com/ZMd9y6qeD/ i’d love a podcast ep about this woman who tried to make people lose weight with god, saying to not eat when you’re hungry!
tjp
2021-07-04 09:54:15 +0000 UTCPiers Morgan is such a scumbag. He loves the sound of his own voice and simply can’t understand why anyone would have an opinion that differs from his own. This isn’t new. He and the vocal minority like him are an embarrassment to most of us. I don’t have any interest in the royals but it made me sad and angry that MM was treated, and indeed still continues to be, so appallingly. The toast thing did make me laugh though and it’s so true!
Caroline Gerrard
2021-07-04 07:06:12 +0000 UTCWhy do you love the cartels so much? 😅
Molly Reagan
2021-07-03 19:22:33 +0000 UTCIt involves dinosaur shaped cookie cutters.
Zoe Arends-Derning
2021-07-02 05:58:35 +0000 UTCI must know-what is the peasant way of cutting toast.
Erin Davis
2021-07-01 21:42:48 +0000 UTCI listened to this while eating my avocado toast cut into rectangles. Guess I’m lower class. 😂
Flynty
2021-07-01 21:37:36 +0000 UTCHaven't listened to the episode yet - but am just about to! I don't allow myself to listen 'til the end of the week. It's my treat for being "good" and showing up to work. ;D Sooo excited - can't wait to hear Aubrey & Michael tear it up, can't wait to hear "bitch-ass crown jockeys" drop!!
Renee MeowMeow Beans
2021-07-01 13:51:20 +0000 UTCI listened to the toast thing and knew exactly what Michaels ex meant before he said it. Triangles are just a classier shape
MutinyontheBeagle
2021-07-01 09:44:42 +0000 UTCYou all are the best. Getting notifications from my podcast app when your eps drop or an email from Patreon about a bonus seriously makes me squeal with excitement 😹
Colleen McCann
2021-06-30 05:48:37 +0000 UTCPiers Morgan makes my skin crawl like Trump. They both have a similar way of talking that makes me itch
Megan
2021-06-30 03:22:16 +0000 UTCThat clip of Piers was so infuriating, how does he get anyone to take him seriously??
Ann
2021-06-30 01:44:25 +0000 UTCNeed a little fanciness in my life, so it's posh toast from here on out!
Lindsay
2021-06-30 00:24:11 +0000 UTCReally appreciate A's comments about good white people and bad white people. Let's not forget Prince Harry had his own history of public displays of racism: wearing nazi uniforms to a fancy dress party, calling middle Eastern men derogatory name's during the gulf War. As a great black drag queen once said 'Racism is part of the human condition'. This is not meant as a justification, this is NOT an excuse but it is something we have to all own up to and address and hopefully try and resolve. Trying t demarcate white people as good and bad, glosses over this and does not help anybody!
Bruce Clezy
2021-06-29 23:42:09 +0000 UTCAnother awesome episode!! Ugh SOOO much to unpack. We need a part two guys!
Erin Clancy
2021-06-29 23:18:28 +0000 UTCAbsolutely an abusive asshole throwing a tantrum defending racism couched in "curiosity." LORD. I'm right there with Aubrey with the visceral response.
Bridey
2021-06-29 22:03:10 +0000 UTCI can't get over how absolutely exhausted that guy sounds when he just says "Talk" when Piers Morgan interrupts him in that clip. Just like "Fine, go ahead, it's easier than trying to get you to listen."
Allie L.
2021-06-29 19:35:07 +0000 UTC"I'M ALLOWED TO SPEAK" 🙄
maintenancephase
2021-06-29 19:31:51 +0000 UTCListening to the Piers Morgan clip and my eyeballs rolled out my head and out the door.
Frances T
2021-06-29 19:04:13 +0000 UTCmmm probably not a bonus but maybe future topic…. Can we explore WTH is “adrenal fatigue” even and why are there so many supplements purporting to treat it? Why are we blaming the Kidney Hats for every nonspecific symptom?
Pamela Stebbins
2021-06-29 18:17:09 +0000 UTCThis podcast episode made my day!
M Dunne
2021-06-29 17:34:53 +0000 UTC“Bitch ass 👑 jockeys” got me 🤣😂😂
Cassie Brown
2021-06-29 17:26:48 +0000 UTCI can't wait to know everything there possibly is to know about the royal family bc of this and ywa even though I've literally never sought out information about them
Emily Riebeek
2021-06-29 16:59:53 +0000 UTC"bitch-ass crown jockeys" is the best thing I've heard all week 😂
Lisa
2021-06-29 16:24:07 +0000 UTCHonestly let’s just burn all the brooches
Allie
2021-06-29 16:15:00 +0000 UTCsame haha instantly knew triangles was the posh way
Courtney Canning
2021-06-29 14:57:18 +0000 UTCloved listening to this as a British person, social mobility in Britain is learning to cut sandwiches diagonally 🥴
Jasmin
2021-06-29 14:04:15 +0000 UTCOoh, I would love an episode on the idea that certain foods cause all sorts of mental and physical health problems via non-specific “inflammation.”
Bailey
2021-06-29 13:54:32 +0000 UTCOverlapping with Noah Beller’s comment above, I love hearing Fat Acceptance experts debunking the inflammation argument for not eating certain foods, especially how this maps onto the lives of people who, like me, have chronic illness. Any possibility that you might do this, Mike & Aubrey?
Elisabeth Swim
2021-06-29 13:46:01 +0000 UTCI love listening to Mike and Aubrey 🎧😁
Elisabeth Swim
2021-06-29 13:39:34 +0000 UTCHaven't listened yet, but while I have the idea: would love to hear either a bonus episode or actual episode(s) about intersectionality of disability and weight. Disabilities can both cause differences in weight gain/loss/distribution, as well as impact how an individual can eat or move...it seems like those with visible physical disabilities that existed from early in like are given a "free pass" on weight, while those who develop disabilities later in life or those who have invisible disabilities are not given consideration at all and are maybe ridiculed even more. I never struggled with being overweight, but do have a lot of trauma around food from being a neurodivergent kid without a diagnosis and having my own issues with eating and everyone around me seemed to need to say something. Would love perspectives on this.
Noah Jay
2021-06-29 13:35:50 +0000 UTCLol, I'm British and as soon as Michael said his bf accused him of cutting his toast the lower class way I knew EXACTLY which way he meant despite literally never having thought about this or had it explicitly explained
Phil Hoggart
2021-06-29 12:22:22 +0000 UTCYay for a new episode!!
Eileen Winn
2021-06-29 12:15:37 +0000 UTCI am so excited for the new episode! Thank you A & M!
Liz Winston
2021-06-29 12:06:12 +0000 UTCSo damn embarrassing.
Leaflemming
2021-06-29 09:30:47 +0000 UTCOn behalf of New Zealand I would like to apologise for that tooth clamp fatphobic bullshit
Elizabeth Heritage
2021-06-29 08:21:18 +0000 UTC
