Former American actress and Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle recently opened up about being made to feel like a bimbo on the American game show Deal or No Deal. Meghan, who was talking to Paris Hilton on her Archetypes podcast, got candid about her days as a struggling actress.
Firstly, What Is Deal or No Deal?
Credit: Deal or No Deal
Everyone has to start somewhere, right? Back when she was trying to make it big, Meghan worked as a “briefcase girl” on the game show. Her job? To hold a briefcase containing cash value ranging from $0.01 to a whopping $1,000,000! Meghan worked there from 2006 to 2007, even sharing the stage with model and wife of John Legend, Chrissy Teigen! But there was something about the job that simply didn’t sit right with Meghan. And that, as we’ve recently found out, was being made to feel like a bimbo.
So, What Made Meghan Feel like a Bimbo?
Well, Meghan knew she was being appreciated for her looks instead of her brains. While acknowledging that she was “grateful” to have a job that could pay her bills, Meghan added, “There were times when I was on set at Deal or No Deal and thinking back to my time working as an intern at the U.S. Embassy in Argentina, 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… Before the tapings of Deal or No Deal, all the girls would line up and there were different stations for having your lashes put on or extensions put in or the padding in your bra. We were even given spray tan vouchers each week because there was a very cookie-cutter idea of precisely what we should look like. It was solely about beauty — and not necessarily about brains.”
Eventually, Meghan quit the show for making her feel “not smart.” She reasoned, “I was surrounded by smart women on that stage with me. But that wasn’t the focus of why we were there… 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. I didn’t like feeling forced to be all looks and little substance.”
Following this revelation, Meghan further added that she hoped for her daughter, Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, to aspire for more in life. And her exact words were, “I want our daughter to aspire to be slightly higher. Yeah, I want my Lili to want to be educated and want to be smart and to pride herself on those things.”
Meghan Previously Elaborated about “Having to Wear a Towel” on Suits
Credit: Suits
The former royal, who played the character of Rachel Zane in the American legal drama Suits between the years 2011 and 2017, has previously discussed the sexualization of her character. In an interview in 2014, she quoted, “This season every script seemed to begin with Rachel entering wearing a towel and I said [to the producers] ‘no, I’m not doing it anymore, I’m not doing it.’” However, Meghan did mention, “When you’re an auditioning actress years ago, so hungry for work, of course, you’re willing to do things like that.”
Notably, Meghan left Suits soon after announcing her engagement to Prince Harry. The couple were married in a fairytale wedding (that cost upwards of $40 million!) at Windsor Castle in 2018. And within a year of their nuptials, the couple welcomed their first child, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. Not very long after that, the couple made international headlines again, when they announced their decision to step down as royals and pursue a private life in the United States.
Credit: @sussexroyal
So, What’s Next?
Of course, their lives can never be so private! Meghan is, after all, a celebrated former actress and Harry is a prince. So, apart from taking care of their son Archie and daughter Lilibet, the couple has signed lucrative deals with Netflix and Spotify. In fact, Archetypes has been developed as part of this particular Spotify deal. (The former actress spoke to Serena Williams as her first guest on the podcast — to know more about their conversation, click here.)
Currently, the ex-royals have put all their eggs in one basket — Archewell. Right now, the company has three divisions, one each for the Netflix and Spotify deals, and a third that oversees their nonprofit interests.
Well, we’re surely excited to see what these former royals come up with next!