The new episode of Meghan Markle’s podcast entitled “Breaking down ‘The Bimbo’” was released on Spotify on Tuesday, October 18, featuring media personality Paris Hilton.
The 41-year-old, who boasts more than 20 million followers on Instagram, grew up in the limelight, attending glitzy parties at just 15 years old, and was described as “New York’s leading It Girl” in 2001 by Vanity Fair.
It was this reputation that Meghan admitted she had “judged” Paris for, explaining to her listeners that she had been nervous to meet her because she doubted she would have anything in common with the reality TV star.
A total of six episodes of Meghan’s Archetypes podcast have now been released on Spotify where she has interviewed a number of famous faces, including singer Mariah Carey and Grand Slam champion Serena Williams.
Yet Meghan shared with both her listeners and Paris that she was “most nervous” to speak to the Hilton heiress out of all her recent guests. Meghan and Paris are both 41 and grew up in Los Angeles, but Paris moved to New York when she was 15.
The Duchess explained that growing up in the Nineties, the trend was to be “sexy, hot and cool” – with Paris being within the “zeitgeist” of that culture – while she was a “nerd”.
Meghan has described herself as such before, telling Marie Claire in 2013 that she was always the “theatre nerd” while at the prestigious Northwestern University, Illinois, where she studied a double major in both theatre and international relations.
The 41-year-old mum of two explained that she felt as though she did not know what she could talk about with Paris as much of her career had been built on the idea that she was “not smart”.
Meghan, addressing Paris, said: “I remember growing up in LA, around the same age, and you were just so famous and so beautiful… all the things that, especially when you’re young, and especially in the Nineties, all that pop culture stuff, it was so influential. Everything was about trying to be sexy and hot and cool…
“I mean there was this moment – you were in that zeitgeist and I was this nerd, so it was so hard for me to think about what you and I would talk about when so much of the identity, whether it was placed upon you, or you adopted, or embraced, or used to build a career, was about not leaning into being smart.”
Meghan continued: “The popular image that I had of Paris was so incredibly strong, just based on her time in the public eye, starting in the late Nineties after her family moved from Beverley Hills to New York. She became this complete ‘It Girl’. Partying night after night, escapades splashed across tabloids, and she was the Hilton Hotel heiress who lived at the Waldorf Astoria hotel.”
