Celebrity
“I Was Told To ‘Suck It In’ And Treated ‘Like A Bimbo’ While On Deal Or No Deal,” Meghan Markle Reveals
Meghan left acting after she married Prince Harry in May 2018.
The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, has revealed she quit Deal or No Deal after being made to feel like a bimbo. Markle shared that women lined up to receive lashes, padding for their bras, spray tan vouchers, and even hair extensions because the production had a “cookie-cutter idea” of how they should look.
“It was solely about beauty and not necessarily about brains,” the mom-of-two said in a new episode of her podcast titled “Breaking Down ‘The Bimbo’ with Paris Hilton.
Markle added she was often told to suck it in by a woman who ran the show in 2006.
“When I look back at the time, I will never forget this one detail because moments before we’d get on stage, there was a woman who ran the show, and she would be there backstage, and I can still hear her. She couldn’t probably pronounce my last name at the time, and I knew who she was talking to because she would go Markle Suck.”
According to Markle, the order of sucking in it left her feeling objectified and not smart, and she quit the show.
She continued: “Markle suck it in. I ended up quitting the show. Like is 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.”
Markle appeared on the show from 2006 to 2007 before becoming a regular on USA Network’s Suits in 2011.
The 41-Year-Old held briefcase number 24 during her time as a model on the game show.
Meghan further told her guest Hilton: “The other night,, I was flipping through the channels on TV. This, by the way, is a rarity when you have two children under the age of four – but I saw an episode of a game show called Deal or No Deal. This brought back a lot of memories. Back in 2006, I had a short stint as a briefcase girl on the US version of the game show.”
She admitted that her experience on the show, which included holding briefcases alongside 25 other women, was, though, quite fascinating.
Markle, who reflected on studying international relations in college, working as an intern at the US Embassy in Argentina Buenos Aires, and riding in a motorcade with the Secretary of Treasury, came to the conclusion that the job didn’t align with her values. She stated: “So while Deal or No Deal wasn’t about acting, I am still really grateful as an auditioning actress to have a job.”
Markle said the job was great for her because it paid bills, had income, was part of the Union, and had health insurance. “Knowing 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. And that’s how it felt for me at the time, being reduced to his specific archetype, the world bimbo.”
Now a mom, Markle said she aspires for her daughter, Lilibet, to be known for her brains rather than her beauty.
She told Paris: “I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on this idea because when I hear the word bimbo, I have a very negative connotation to it. I don’t see that as an aspirational thing for a woman, I want our daughters to aspire to be slightly higher. I want my Lili to want to be educated and want to be smart and to pride herself on those things.”
Ahead of her royal wedding, ‘Deal or No Deal; host Howie Mandel had, however, admitted he didn’t remember Markle’s time on the series.
In her last podcast, Markle slammed Hollywood blockbusters for toxic stereotyping of Asian women, taking swipes at Austin Powers – famously a James Bond Spoof and Kill Bill, whose Lucy Liu assassin has been applauded as a powerful female role model. She claimed the films promoted the perilous image of a stereotypical Dragon Lady to movie fans.
