Meghan Markle was a surprise guest at Kerry Washington's 48th birthday party this week - days after a damning Vanity Fair article about her and husband Prince Harry was published. The Duchess of Sussex, 43, was captured very briefly in a fun video showing birthday cakes being presented to Washington, who was also joined by a newly single Jessica Alba, 43. Meghan, dressed in a sleeveless white top, was filmed smiling and clapping as they sang Happy Birthday at the intimate dinner party held on Thursday.

While Washington and Alba shared numerous photos and clips from the festivities, the former working Royal was not visible in any of them. Alba is currently navigating a marital split after separating from Cash Warren. The news comes at a challenging time for Meghan and her husband Prince Harry, who were recently dealt a challenging blow by the bombshell Vanity Fair article. Meghan Markle was a surprise guest at Kerry Washington's 48th birthday party this week - days after a damning Vanity Fair article about her and husband Prince Harry was published.

While Washington and Jessica Alba shared numerous photos and clips from the festivities, the former working Royal was not visible in any of them. The profile in Vanity Fair stated that the Duchess of Sussex would reportedly be 'warm and effusive' towards employees at the start before turning 'cold and withholding toward the person she perceived to be responsible' when something 'went poorly. According to the magazine, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex ran into several snags that saw their lucrative deal with the streaming service, reportedly worth £18million, collapse in just three years.

The couple reportedly failed to yield consistent, successful content for the platform, with one former employee, claiming they were unlike other celebrity podcasters, who will 'turn on the mic and talk'. Instead, the source said, the couple 'wanted a big theme that would explain the world, but they had no ideas'. Some of Harry's bizarre concepts ranged from reviewing hot chocolate every week to interviewing the likes of Putin and Donald Trump about being 'sociopaths'.

Meanwhile, Meghan found it hard to commit to ideas before 'backtracking' and 'watering them down', meaning each episode had to be 'completely reimagined late in production', the article states. Even when Meghan finally premiered her podcast Archetypes - aimed at empowering women by breaking down gender stereotypes - it failed to take off amid rumours that Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Megan Thee Stallion all declined to appear on it.

The damning profile in the magazine - headlined ‘American Hustle’ - also stated that the Duchess of Sussex could be ‘really, really awful’ when things did not go her way. Elsewhere, the profile detailed allegations from former employees of Meghan who reportedly felt mistreated during their time working with her. Meghan, dressed in a sleeveless white top, was filmed smiling and clapping as they sang Happy Birthday.

Washington posed up with a cake and party balloons at the bash - but Meghan was nowhere to be seen. Alba looked radiant amid her shock split from husband Cash Warren. Despite teasing new episodes of Archetypes at the start of the month, Meghan's podcast (pictured) is reportedly set to face a delay. The Duchess and Prince Harry visited survivors of the wildfires and were spotted handing out food packages. Taking to Instagram, Lemonada Media included Archetypes in a post (pictured) about new episodes coming in 2025.

Taking to Instagram, Lemonada Media wrote: 'We are so back! With new episodes of Fail Better, Boneheads, Pop Culture Debate Club AND MORE coming out this week, which podcast are you excited to listen to this week?'. The couple later dismissed the allegations as 'distressing', according to claims in The Times. Launched in August 2022, Meghan's podcast intended to explore the labels and stereotypes that hold women back.

Despite a star-studded guest list that included Serena Williams and Mariah Carey, the podcast's initial buzz dwindled. In June 2023, Spotify and the Sussexes' production company, Archewell Audio, announced they were parting ways. Reports of behind-the-scenes disagreements surfaced, with some sources alleging that Spotify had higher expectations regarding the amount of content produced. Then, in February last year, Meghan signed a new podcast deal with Lemonada Media, which appeared to suggest that new episodes were on the cards via Instagram, writing, 'We are SO Back!'.

'With new episodes of Fail Better, Boneheads, Pop Culture Debate Club AND MORE coming out this week, which podcast are you excited to listen to this week?'. Nestled in the image of podcasts shared by the media group was Markle's Archetype podcast, perhaps indicating that fans can expect new episodes later this year. Fans flocked to the post's comment section, expressing their desire for new episodes. In 2022, Archetypes claimed People's Choice Award for The Pop Podcast of 2022 and the Duchess won best entertainment podcast host at the Gracie Awards.