Valued elsewhere for brains: when Meghan had to tuck her belly in on TV
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Valued elsewhere for brains
When Meghan had to retract her belly on TV
10/18/22, 9:07 PM
Duchess Meghan once worked in show business. This was before her serial role in Suits. Meghan has many negative memories of that time. In her podcast, she talks about false eyelashes, padded bras, and a situation she remembers to this day.
Podcasts are often about personal things – as is the case with Duchess Meghan. In a new episode of her podcast “Archetypes” on Spotify, the 41-year-old talks about painful experiences during her television career. Although these are a long time ago, they apparently impressed the Duchess.
So she recently had some time to zap through US TV, which doesn’t happen often with two small kids. Meghan came across the game show “Deal Or No Deal”. Before gaining fame as an actress, most notably for her role in Suits, she also worked as “Briefcase Girl” on the US version of the show. She describes her experience on the show as “fascinating”. At that time, right at the beginning of her acting career, she was grateful for this job that allowed her to pay her bills. But there was also a downside, as listeners of her podcast are discovering.
On set, the 41-year-old had to think back to an even earlier career move, her time as an intern at the American embassy in Buenos Aires. There, she was “explicitly valued for my brain” — but on the show for “the opposite,” as she puts it.
“It was all about beauty”
There were several stations for performances. The young women, who acted purely as models and had to hold briefcases on stage, were given extensions and artificial eyelashes and bras were also padded. This is how the women should all have looked according to a certain pattern. “It was all about beauty and not necessarily brains,” continues Meghan.
She will never forget a certain situation. “Markel, tuck in your belly,” shouted a woman who couldn’t pronounce her name just before taking the stage. Markle is the Duchess’s maiden name. To this day, she still hears the voice of the TV employee who was responsible for the production. Finally, Meghan got out. She was grateful for the job, but not for how she felt about it — as “not smart.” It felt like she had been reduced to that particular archetype. At that time she became objectified and knew “that I was so much more (…)”.
