The Duchess of Sussex has discussed her stint as a “briefcase girl” on the US version of Deal or No Deal, saying it made her feel “forced to be all looks and little substance.”
Meghan Markle, 41, reflected on her time on the gameshow in 2006 on the latest episode of her Archetypes podcast, which featured a chat with American socialite Paris Hilton. Speaking about the labels of “bimbo” and “dumb blonde,” Meghan said there was a “very cookie cutter idea” of what the briefcase girls should look like and that it was “solely about beauty and not necessarily about brains”.
Meghan said she and 25 other women with whom she shared the stage were given spray tan vouchers each week. She also recalled a woman – who she says ran the show – telling her to “suck it in”.
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Speaking at the start of the episode, Meghan said: “I ended up quitting the show. Like I said, I was thankful for the job but not for how it made me feel, which was not smart.
“And by the way, I was surrounded by smart women on that stage with me. But that wasn’t the focus of why we were there.
“And I would end up leaving with this pit in my stomach, knowing that I was so much more than what was being objectified on the stage.”
She added how she disliked being reduced to the “specific archetype” of “all looks and little substance.” Meghan continued: “There were times when I was on set and thinking back to my time working as an intern at the US Embassy in Buenos Aires, and being in the motorcade with the Secretary of Treasury at the time and being valued specifically for my brain.
“Here, I was being valued for something quite the opposite.”
Meghan also talked about her hopes for her daughter, saying she wants one-year-old Lilibet to be educated and “want to be smart and pride herself on those things.” Later in the episode, Meghan said she was embarrassed to admit she had a “judgment” about Paris Hilton.
She said: “I don’t like having judgment. It doesn’t feel good. But I had to be real about that, because when I grew up, she was beautiful, rich and famous.
“‘What could possibly be wrong with her life?’ I would think. And because my entire sense of self confidence was wrapped up in being the smart one and not the pretty one, I found the way to project all of my judgment and envy on to her.
“‘Who would want to act stupid?’ I would think. Envy can be a very dangerous thing, as can judgment.
“I was ashamed to admit I harboured either of those feelings. So I talked to her and while she admits that she played into this dumb blonde persona, she also revealed years of trauma that likely made it less easy to carve out her own identity.”
She said she found Hilton “refreshing,” adding she knew Paris had “made mistakes” while insisting the discussion was not “the defence of Paris Hilton” rather the “humanisation of her”. She added: “That’s where we leave judgments at the door.
“That’s when we can see a woman behind the archetype. I’m sorry for having judged her, I didn’t know her.
“And as I assured her, I wasn’t looking for a gotcha moment. I was looking for a ‘got you’ moment, as in the real you. And I think we did.
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