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The popular podcast is receiving heat for a recent conversation around women and motherhood. It highlights how far the show has strayed from its origins.
Stephen Bartlett is no stranger to controversy. When you head-up one of the biggest podcasts on the planet, that comes with the territory. And it seems Bartlett knows that – he hasn’t let criticism sway him from building a multi-million dollar empire that now includes hefty brand sponsorships and a stint on Dragons Den.
The businessman was just 25 when he started Diary of a CEO, a podcast designed to share entrepreneurial insights, tips for overcoming imposter syndrome, and advice from successful figureheads in the business world. But the show has since branched out to cover celebrity interviews, emotional and spiritual topics, and most recently health and wellness.
It’s an unsurprising trajectory for someone of Bartlett’s ilk – men proclaiming their financial successes rarely stray far from the gym, at least in discourse. Cold plunges, 6am workouts and an extensive diet have been spouted as non-negotiables for the world’s wealthy. But Diary of a CEO has found itself in hot water over wellness claims, thanks largely to Bartlett’s penchant for platforming alternative health advice.
Analysis by the BBC World Service has previously stated many of the claims made on Diary of a CEO go against extensive scientific evidence. Bartlett’s response was that guests were offered ‘freedom of expression’ and were ‘thoroughly researched.’ Health remains one of the podcast’s primary conversation topics, so it seems he hasn’t been perturbed.
But this week Bartlett and co. came under renewed scrutiny for a very different reason – albeit one that affirms the show’s foray into an online wilderness.
Now 33, Bartlett’s last Diary of a CEO episode of 2025 shared the same talking-points that made it famous: success, anxiety, burnout. But in the sprawling conversation with former Love Island star turned lifestyle podcaster Chris Williamson, the subject of motherhood suddenly emerged.
Despite neither man having children of their own, Bartlett and Williamson began discussing declining birthrates – asking why women specifically were choosing not to have children.
‘We have this population-decline situation going on,’ Bartlett posed to his guest. ‘Is it not a function or a consequence of the fact that we have more freedom?’
Williamson listed a few theories, including busy lifestyle, women having more financial independence, contraception – the usual suspects. But then he pointed to a growing ‘anti-family’ sentiment amongst women, calling out a specific TikTok influencer who recently shared a list of personal reasons she was abstaining from motherhood.
‘There’s this ‘Girl With the List’ on TikTok,’ said Williamson. ‘This girl […] wrote 350 reasons not to have kids,’ which he said included things like ‘can’t wear cute heels with the girls’ and ‘have to miss brunch.’ Signing off with his unsolicited two-cents, Williamson said ‘by the sound of things, it’s a really good idea that she’s not a mother.’
The ‘girl’ in question is Abigail Porter, who took the name-check in stride when she responded to a clip from the podcast. In a viral video, Porter wrote sarcastically, ‘The brand is expanding… 2026 will be the year I get blamed for the declining birth rate.’ She’s since updated her TikTok bio to ‘The Girl with the List.’
It’s fun to share in Porter’s laughter – but when two men spout such vilifying opinions on motherhood the only reasonable alternative is to cry. Listeners have jumped in where Porter refrained, calling out the podcast for an ‘inconsiderate and ignorant’ conversation.
‘They’re so angry at women for not having kids, yet do absolutely nothing to address WHY women aren’t having kids,’ wrote one YouTube comment. ‘Diary of a CEO is right-wing manosphere cosplaying as liberals.’
This points to the show’s unsettling trajectory – moving gradually away from entrepreneurial domain and into a shadowy space of off-beat lifestyle advice and increasingly conservative soundbites. Bartlett has also platformed significantly more male guests than female, despite the podcast’s subject matter often touching on women’s issues.
Looking back, it’s a far cry from the format that made Diary of a CEO thrive. As Bindu Bansinath wrote for The Cut, many women have tuned in to the podcast thanks to Bartlett’s supposed difference from right-leaning voices like Joe Rogan. ‘Bartlett was supposed to be one of the good male podcasters,’ says Bansinath, ‘a soft-spoken, intellectual and vaguely therapeutic presence who called out men for being dishonest with their significant others.’
His forays into more emotional material have also previously resonated with a female audience – including a conversation with Kamala Harris on a ‘fractured America’, and a round table exploring women’s health.
‘I’ve never felt so seen,’ wrote one reddit user of the latter episode.
It makes Bartlett’s sudden pivot all the more grating, particularly when the rise of online incel culture has increasingly alienated women from digital spaces. Outside of the internet’s dark corners, conversations around parenthood have been drawing backlash for celebrities and politicians alike – including Timothee Chalamet, whose comments about child-free living irked fans last year.
