Meghan Markle says she was "reduced" to an archetypal "bimbo" during her stint as a briefcase girl on Deal or No Deal.
In a new episode of her Archetypes podcast, the 41-year-old former Suits actress told her guest Paris Hilton that she felt "objectified" on the NBC show, which she appeared on for 34 episodes between 2006 and 2007.
The podcast episode, aptly titled 'Breaking Down the Bimbo', saw Markle express her gratitude for the fact that the gig allowed her to pay her bills - while admitting she disliked "how it made me feel, which was not smart".
Per The Independent, she said: “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.”
Markle went on: “I ended up quitting the show. 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 this specific archetype the word bimbo.”
Elaborating on the "objectification" she felt she was subjected to on the show, the Duchess of Sussex said: “There were different stations for having your lashes, put on, or your 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.”
Markle's involvement on the show came to an end 16 years ago when she left midway through the season.
She told Hilton on the Spotify podcast: “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, 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.”
Markle added: “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. Like I said, I was thankful for the job but not for how it made me feel which was not smart.”
Elsewhere on the podcast, Markle shared how nervous she was about recording the episode with Hilton. She said: “I’ve been the most nervous about this one.”
She explained: “Because while I'm embarrassed to admit it, I had a judgment about Paris. And I don't like having judgment. 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?”