Pop Apologists
277: Did Meghan Markle Really Ask for Every Vogue Cover? + Momtok Meltdowns on Secret Lives of Mormon Wives
Wed, 28 May 2025
This week, Lauren and Chanler are coming to you from full LA trip prep mode. From Beyoncé's celestial performance to Mormon Wives chaos, they're breaking down the biggest stories. Expect mystery, mom drama, reality TV breakdowns, and one very bold Vogue request.• [00:00] 🎬 Packing, filming, and a camera setup saga—plus, why Chanler is unusually zen pre-LA• [07:46] 🎤 Beyoncé’s LA concert: iconic cameos, wardrobe wins, and a soft launch for Jay-Z's redemption arc?• [13:46] ⚖️ Karen Read trial deep dive: conspiracies, Facebook moms, and a possible swingers' night with a garage door guy• [24:11] 🥃 Sandy Cohen, The OC, and an unforgettable party moment involving a very lost wristwatch• [26:51] 📺 Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: friendship fallouts, glam mom interventions, and shifting alliances on-screen• [39:21] ✂️ Book deals, hair-related shade, and the moment the group chat energy shifted on camera• [41:41] 🍼 Emotions run high with a pregnancy reveal and a redemption arc that hits surprisingly hard• [47:11] 💍 Engagement rumors swirl as an NFL legend updates his yacht name and sparks internet theories• [50:11] 👑 Meghan Markle’s alleged pitch to be on every Vogue cover—and what reportedly happened next• [53:41] 🧾 Brittany Bateman’s legal drama heats up—featuring lawsuits, former friends, and court filings• [56:51] 💸 Dakota Johnson talks rent struggles, career rejections, and what “making it” actually looked likePlease note this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.OneSkin: Get 15% off OneSkin with the code Popapologists at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod #sponsoredFor more Pop Apologists, follow along at:@popapologists on InstagramPop Apologists on YouTubeTo support the show, consider subscribing on Patreon or anywhere you listen to podcasts, where you can get a bonus episode of Pop Apologists every Monday and Friday!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What are the highlights of Beyoncé's LA concert?
And Ben is nice enough to do this a month into marriage, but I don't know what it's going to be like three, four, 10 years from now. He's going to be over it. So I should start looking into full-time help. Thank God you have Ben. And no, it's just also your attitude is so just you're cheerful. You're happy. You're bright. And there's no huffing. There's no puffing. There's not, oh, OK, let's go.
We got to get going. This is great. It's like when people say that celebrities are so nice. Well, it's because they have full-time help. It's because they have help around the clock. It's quite easy to be nice when people are doing everything for you. It's honestly like the joke Heather MacDonald makes, which is like whenever...
someone says, oh, they're like the homecoming king and they were so nice. And it's like, of course they were nice. They're attractive. People are nice to them. Of course they're nice. Anyway, we always give attractive, successful people so much credit when they're nice. And it's like, yeah, duh, life is good. Absolutely. Life's easy. It's easy street.
Speaking of everyone, I just want to say we're so excited because I'm hopping on a plane to LA after this recording so that we can record with Heather on Juicy Scoop. So this is going to be such a huge moment for us. We are absolutely beside ourselves. We're so excited. Lauren, I have enough beta blockers on me to tranquilize a small mammal. And so just so you know, we are prepped.
You know what's so funny about this is I don't feel even nearly as nervous as I was for Ballerina Farm. I feel good. I feel excited. I think the parasocial relationship between me and Heather is very real. So I feel like I'm about to go see my bestie. I literally was thinking about that last night. I was like, I know her sister's name. I know that her niece just graduated.
I'm like, how much do I reveal about how much I know about her personal life? Honestly, that is a great question to ask. And we should think about that because we don't want to seem creepy and stalkery. And this Patreon you did in 2017, I was wondering if you could circle back. No, the one thing I will say is I do have a new charity idea for her.
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Chapter 2: What happened in the Karen Read trial?
okay are you gonna start charities yeah should you start but shouldn't you like share it with her live tomorrow no i will but i don't think she's gonna listen to this oh yeah okay yeah please this is actually you know duh of course um i don't think she's gonna listen to our pod on the way to record with us but anyway my charity idea for her is she should start a charity for women who are accused of murdering their boyfriends who are not hot
Oh, yeah. Because that's a community that is under duress, okay? That is very disadvantaged and not hashtag privileged in 2025. But I would say this community has been erased. Keith Morrison is not interviewing you unless you are hot. I'm sorry. No, there are not people standing outside your courthouse in pink t-shirts just marching on your behalf if you're not hot.
That is definitely something Karen has on her side that she doesn't speak enough about. Let me also say that there are also so many men who are unattractive. where women are just like literally with signs outside claiming their innocence. Keith Raniere, for one. Nothing was more chilling to me than those scenes at the very end of the NXIVM documentary of the women outside the prison in New York.
And he's like doing Morse code with like the blinds or something, and they're trying to communicate with him from within the prison. And I'm like... Isn't he like 5'5"? No, he's like 5'1", by the way, first of all. 5'5 would be way better. I'm pretty sure he can barely go on the rides at Disneyland. Let me just also say that I'm not heightest. I've dated men of all heights.
Ben, I believe, is a 5'11". I'm not a 6'4 finance type of girl. But if a man is abusing you and he also happens to be very short, I'm going to make fun of him. I'm going to go for the jugular. I think it's fine. I think no one in their right mind is defending Keith Ranieri. By the way, what is the shortest you've gone in men, though? I kind of want to call this out.
I think, like, my height, probably. I think I've dated guys who are 5'9", 5'10", maybe. Okay. I've never dated shorter than me, I guess. So you are a little hightest. I mean, have you dated shorter than you? No, but I never made any claims to the contrary. But you know what? Yeah. I mean, I share shoes with Ben, so... That's like, that's, that's brave enough.
I've talked about it at length here, but, um, yeah, clearly I'm not, I'm not that vain. That is a very, very hashtag vulnerable thing to express. I don't share all shoes with him. Let me just be clear. My feet are a little bit longer. His are wider. Your feet are actually longer than his. A teensy bit longer. Mine are more like I would say narrow, but like his are wider.
So he is like a bigger shoe size than me, obviously. And he's also not a small guy at all. He's not, he's like not, not small in stature, I would say. No, definitely not. He is, he is broad. He has a broad stature and goodly parents, but let's move on from Ben and his characteristics. Let's hear about Beyonce because you just went to Beyonce. Yes. Okay. And I want to know all about it. Do you?
I do. Okay. Well, everyone, I went to Beyonce on Saturday night and let me just tell you, it was incredible. It was another three hour show that did not feel like three hours, like Taylor Swift style, where it was just like incredible, like hit after hit. Also, she did a good job of kind of like changing up the song fast, you know? So it wasn't like you were, you know, stuck.
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Chapter 3: What is the drama in Secret Lives of Mormon Wives?
Oh yes.
Totally. Like God bless you. I don't know. I was, I was like, I need to say God bless you more. I don't know why I like felt very inspired by that phrase. Um, I don't know. I was feeling things were good anyway. Uh, the other thing I'm going to just come right out and say, Her concert visuals were spectacular.
Really?
Yes. You know how Taylor's concert visuals are a little Disneyland, a little Toontown? Well, I mean, Taylor's also going back 12 years or 16 years or whatever it is in eras. But yes, there's a certain Disneyland feel for sure. I mean, there's the women in the cloaks. There's the orbs. There's the Disney princess dress.
Yes.
Like there was a level of just like visual interest to all of the visuals, all of the set design, all like the stage design, I should say. And I was like very taken with it. I'll send you some photos. Actually, you don't care, but I loved it. I was like, I'm really glad I went. Well, you're making me want to go. I mean, I would love to join the Beyonce tribe, join the people who love her.
Do you feel like she plays less of the songs that nobody knows? Yeah, I would say it's a good mix of hits and then... I didn't know every song on the set list. But the other thing is that she uses a teleprompter. Did Taylor do this? I can't remember. Do singers just do this with their songs? Like she used a teleprompter to remember the lyrics?
There was a screen at the back of the general admission, or like, you know... Um, like, where they would hold the lights that had all the lyrics. I mean, I understand the songs are... I don't know every lyric to every song. And they're, like, a lot of times, like, kind of, like, rap, you know, where it's, like, really fast-paced, but, uh... Yeah, I thought that was interesting.
No.
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Chapter 4: Did Meghan Markle really pitch for every Vogue cover?
And so he is going around the Canton area a lot, and he's talking to a lot of different people and that's, that's kind of, you know, his, that's his expertise. That's where he, that's where he's gathering this theory from. And he, what, what he says is that he's heard from people that.
the group of individuals that were at this party at the Alberts' home, that they were actually swingers and that it was a swinging party and that Karen and John kind of knew that this was happening and this was kind of like a part of this group of friends. Because if you'll remember, they weren't super close with these people.
That's why Karen was like, we'll go in and, you know, make sure it's okay that we're there. But what we infer from like this person on TikTok's theory is that Karen was actually saying to John, can you go in and see if that's, if they're swinging, if that's what we're walking into tonight? Because I don't want to do that.
Chapter 5: What is the latest on Brittany Bateman's legal issues?
She was asking John to kind of go get a temperature check to see if that's what was happening. And all of this makes so much sense because if you'll also remember, Karen left him all those angry voice messages where she says, you're a effing pervert. You're sleeping with another woman. And so she literally thought that John walked into the party
was quickly greeted by, you know, this swinging entourage and just fully, you know, joined the party in that way and left her behind or whatever. And that's why she was so disgusted by him. That's why she left him those angry voicemails because she literally thought he was just, like, joining the swinging party.
I do think one of the great mysteries has always been like, okay, how did he get from the Albert home to this woman's home that he's having sex with or whatever? Like, it just seemed like a little bit of a leap, right? Or a reach. I think it was a reach that, okay, so now because he hasn't come home yet from this party where he's drinking, he's automatically hooking up with somebody else.
Chapter 6: How are Dakota Johnson's career struggles being discussed?
Chapter 7: What is the significance of mom drama in today's culture?
Chapter 8: How do personal lives of celebrities affect their public persona?
Do you want to know what got me through wedding season and one piece? The companionship and constant counsel of your dear sister and co-host. No, I'm really talking about early bird gummies. I cannot even tell you how many times things got too stressful. Life got a little crazy.
There were so many nights where we started to get into the nitty gritty of wedding stuff and it just felt so overwhelming. We had so much to figure out. And when it was time to log out of Zola and go to bed, I couldn't shut my brain off. But with early bird, I was literally able to take a half a gummy. I was able to get the sleep that I so desperately needed. My beauty rest.
I mean, the reason why I look so hot on my wedding day, thanks to Early Bird. Go to earlybirdcbd.com. Use code POPAPOLOGIST for 20% off. One bottle will last you so long. And I can tell you, it is the perfect antidote to middle-of-the-night anxiety. Half a gummy and you're enjoying that show a little more. You're melting into your pillow a little bit more. You're enjoying a meal a little bit more.
It's a panacea. Earlybirdcbd.com. Use code POPAPOLOGIST for 20% off. So our mother is obsessed with Karen Reed. Our mom is very plugged in. In fact, I'll tell you that last night, as she was blessing the food for our Memorial Day feast, she said, please bless that the courts will find justice and the truth. She didn't mention Karen Reed by name. But she was praying for Karen Reed.
And she literally has some red Solo cups around the house that say, free Karen Reed. Mom loves a bandwagon, and she loves a cause. She loves feeling like there's been a miscarriage of justice and that she has the truth. That is, I think, one of mom's favorite sensations. Yes. And I do believe Karen Reed is innocent, and I do believe Karen Reed is hot. But mom is especially taken seriously.
With the whole Karen read of it all. She's following the trial on a level that we were following Johnny and Amber. She's watching every day. She's sending TikTok videos of like someone's theory who got it from her grandma who knows someone named Karen and knows how to read. Like mom is just sending every single theory that there possibly is right now.
She's in a Facebook group called Karen is Innocent, and this Messenger group is popping off at all hours of the day and night. Uh, she is, she's using nicknames for different people related to the case that I'm having to, like, who? And she refers to the judge as Aunt Bev, because apparently the Albert family is, you know, in cahoots with the judge, and they call her Aunt Bev.
Um, like, she's just, she's more plugged in than anybody I know. And so she sent you and I both this TikTok, Well, she actually sent you this TikTok, and then she showed it to me last night, and I was floored because I had not heard this theory before, and I think this theory, to me, explains a lot.
I'm so happy we're discussing this because she sends me a lot of fringe theories on Karen Reid, but when I saw this one, I just thought, okay, things are making sense in a way they have not before. Absolutely. So basically what this guy says is that he is a garage door repair man.
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