In the eye-opening episode, the mum-of-two unpacked the “bimbo” trope before reflecting on her own experiences on the set of Deal or No Deal.
There was a “very cookie cutter idea” of what the briefcase girls should look like and that it was “solely about beauty and not necessarily about brains,” Meghan confessed.
Touching on the programme’s toxic beauty standards, the 41-year-old explained how she was given spray tan vouchers each week and was once told to “suck it in,” by a lady who ran the show.
Meghan added: “I ended up quitting the show. As I 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, 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. And that’s how it felt for me at the time, being reduced to this specific archetype.”
Reflecting on previous workplace experiences, the actress said: “And 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 US 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”.
Years before crossing paths with Prince Harry, Meghan held briefcase number 24 during her time as a model on the US version of Deal or No Deal in 2006. In a bid to pursue her acting dreams, the budding actress accepted the job whilst studying at Northwestern University.
The job “could pay my bills. I had income, I was part of the Union, I had health insurance, it was great,” she revealed.
