When Meghan Markle was treated like a ‘bimbo’, told to ‘suck in’ her stomach

Meghan Markle continues to fearlessly question behaviours and sub-standard treatment meted out to women that often reduce them to mere objects than actual living beings.
Having been subjected to such a treatment herself — when she was fairly new in her acting career — the Duchess of Sussex made some revolting revelations on the latest episode of her podcast ‘Archetypes‘, for which she was joined socialite and actor Paris Hilton.
Speaking about her time on the game show ‘Deal or No Deal‘, Meghan — who is now married to Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex of the British royal family — recalled when she used to be a “briefcase girl” in 2006, adding that she was flipping through TV channels, which is a “rarity when you have two children under the age of four”, when she stumbled upon the show and got nostalgic.

She told Paris — as the women attempted to unravel the word ‘bimbo’, which is often considered offensive and stereotypical — that it “brought back a lot of memories”.

The 41-year-old admitted that being on the show was not as much about landing a dream acting job as it was about having a job and being able to pay the bills. “I had also studied international relations in college, and there were times I was on set at ‘Deal or No Deal‘ and thinking back to my time working as an intern at the US Embassy in Argentina, in Buenos Aires, and being in the motorcade with the security of treasury at the time and being valued specifically for my brain. Here, I was being valued for something quite the opposite.”

The former ‘Suits‘ actor added that there was a lot of focus on women’s physical appearance on the show. “All the girls, we would line up, and there were different stations for having your lashes put on, or your extensions put in, or the padding in your bra… We were given spray tan vouchers each week, because there was a very ‘cookie-cutter’ idea of precisely what we should look like,” she said during the podcast episode titled ‘Breaking down the bimbo‘.
Looking back, the duchess said she would never forget one specific detail about the show.

“…moments before we’d get on stage, there was a woman who ran the show, and she’d be there backstage, and I can still hear her… She couldn’t properly pronounce my last name at the time and I knew who she was talking to because she’d go, ‘Markle, suck it in! Markle, suck it in!’”
Meghan, naturally quit the show later. “…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 stated.

“And that’s how it felt for me at the time, being reduced to this specific archetype,” the duchess continued, adding the word ‘bimbo’ was “glorified”. She also mentioned daughter Lilibet and how she wants for her to be educated.
“When I hear the word ‘bimbo’, I have a very negative connotation. I don’t see that as an aspirational thing for women. I want my Lili to want to be educated and want to be smart and to pride herself on those things.”
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