Updated as of 10/20/2022 at 11:20 a.m. ET: Whoopi Goldberg has now entered the chat in response to Meghan Markle’s comments about her time on Deal or No Deal.
On Wednesday’s episode of The View, Goldberg challenged Markle’s perception and feelings of being objectified on the show, saying, per Indiewire: “I don’t know that the people who are sitting there are thinking about you like that. They’re thinking, ‘I want the money.’”
She continued, “[‘Wheel of Fortune’ host] Vanna White is always in something interesting and beautiful, and she’s been doing this. The objectification might be coming from you and how you felt about how these women were being portrayed, and that’s what you have to change because we’re performers. When you’re a performer, you take the gig. You left, and that was your prerogative. I feel bad because I don’t think people were looking at these girls like this, I think they want the money.”
She concluded by imploring Markle to not make “the other women feel bad because they’re trying to make a living, too.”
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Meghan Markle is opening up about her time as a “briefcase girl” on Deal or No Deal and how the grieving process has been following the death of Queen Elizabeth II last month.
The Duchess of Sussex reflected on her time on the popular show in the latest episode of her Archetypes podcast, released on Tuesday with featured guest Paris Hilton, where they dissected the archetype of the “bimbo.” Juxtaposing her role against the time she spent as an intern at the U.S. Embassy, Markle explained, per People:
“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 U.S. 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.”
She later added:
“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. 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 being 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.”
Conversely, when the news of Markle’s experience started circulating online, Real Housewives of Atlanta alum Claudia Jordan took to social media to dispute her claims. For context, both Jordan and Markle were “briefcase girls” around the same time on the show.
“Deal or No Deal NEVER treated us like bimbos. We got so many opportunities because of that show, Fremantle and @nbc,” Jordan wrote in her Instagram Story according to the New York Post. “That’s the kind of opportunity that IS what you make it. If you just show up and don’t engage—then you’ll check and not get much out of it—but if you show up and seize your moments…Then there’s no limits to what you can do with the opportunity [sic].”
Additionally, in a the latest edition of Variety magazine, Markle also shared how grieving has been for the family following the death of her husband Harry’s grandmother.
“There’s been such an outpouring of love and support. I’m really grateful that I was able to be with my husband to support him, especially during that time,” she explained in the interview. “What’s so beautiful is to look at the legacy that his grandmother was able to leave on so many fronts. Certainly, in terms of female leadership, she is the most shining example of what that looks like. I feel deep gratitude to have been able to spend time with her and get to know her. It’s been a complicated time, but my husband, ever the optimist, said, ‘Now she’s reunited with her husband.’”
And though it seems things are on a positive note when it comes to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, there is one tiny little blip on their radar. On Tuesday, it was revealed that Netflix would be postponing their forthcoming documentary. The decision is largely due to the online backlash the streamer received after previews of season five of The Crown were recently released. The documentary was slated to come out in December following The Crown’s November release.
“It would be foolhardy to stream The Crown in November followed by the Harry and Meghan documentary in December,” Netflix execs said per The Daily Beast. It remains to be seen just when they think the time will be right to release the highly anticipated project.