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Meghan Markle talks bimbo stereotypes and ‘Deal or No Deal’ with Paris Hilton

The Duchess of Sussex themed her most recent podcast episode after the word "bimbo," while she discussed, with Paris Hilton, how the label affects women.

On her latest episode of her podcast Archetypes, Meghan Markle opened up about her time on the hit NBC game show Deal or No Deal.

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Back in 2006, Markle was one of the many models whose job was to hold one of the many briefcases. When the number of that briefcase was called, the model with that corresponding number would open the case to reveal the amount of money that the contestant passed on, or that contestant won if it’s the last briefcase.

Markle, whose guest on the podcast was former reality star Paris Hilton, briefly discussed her time on the show after telling Hilton that she recently watched an episode of it. Meghan noted that the role of the models was, understandably, all about looks but expressed disappointment that she was in a role which required no thought. “It was solely about beauty and not necessarily about brains.”

The Duchess of Sussex further explained what she did before landing that role, which was the exact the opposite. She said, “I had 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.”

She added about her time in Buenos Aires that she genuinely felt “valued specifically for my brain.” Thus, this became a major factor in her decision to quit the game show but noted that the job was something she was grateful for because it helped her pay the bills at that time in her life.

Paris Hilton then mentioned that her time on the then hugely popular reality show The Simple Life left a similar feeling of being something that you are so much better than. She revealed that producers wanted her to be the “rich, dumb blonde” and wanted her co-star, Nicole Richie, to be the troublemaker.

Being encouraged to be a “dumb blonde” sadly went along with the intended main subject of the episode that Markle had introduced as being themed after the word “Bimbo.”

She played an audio of Clare Malone, a writer for The New Yorker, saying, “Bimbo is a word that is used to cut down a beautiful woman, to kind of say well she’s beautiful but maybe she’s slutty or maybe she’s silly or stupid.”

Paris further explained what that label did to her, saying, “I almost got like stuck and lost in the character….where it was like the lines got blurred or I forgot who I was.”