Whoopi Goldberg accuses Meghan Markle of making ‘women feel bad’ who are ‘trying to make a living’

Estimated read time 8 min read


Whoopi Goldberg has accused Meghan Markle of making ‘other women feel bad’ by claiming her time working at a briefcase girl on Deal or No Deal made her feel like a ‘bimbo’.

Speaking on her talk show The View yesterday, Goldberg said the Duchess of Sussex’s views could be insulting to women who were ‘just trying to make a living’ in the entertainment industry.

Meghan had made the comments on the latest episode of her podcast, saying her time on the show between 2006 and 2007 left her feeling objectified and not seen as a real person.

The mother-of-two and former actress said while she was ‘grateful’ the job helped pay the bills, she felt she was only valued for her ‘beauty’ and not her ‘brains’.

This prompted one of her former co-stars to say the programme had provided ‘so many opportunities’ for them and that models who opened briefcases on the show were not chosen just because of their looks.

Now Goldberg has piled in, saying that she didn’t think the people watching the show would have objectified the briefcase girls, the Sun reports.

Meghan Markle opened up on being a Deal or No Deal briefcase girl and revealed she quit, claiming she felt 'objectified' and like a 'bimbo'

Meghan Markle opened up on being a Deal or No Deal briefcase girl and revealed she quit, claiming she felt ‘objectified’ and like a ‘bimbo’

Meghan made the comments on her Spotify podcast. She and Prince Harry signed a three-year podcast deal with the streaming giant for an estimated $15million to $18million

Meghan made the comments on her Spotify podcast. She and Prince Harry signed a three-year podcast deal with the streaming giant for an estimated $15million to $18million

The panel on The View said Meghan was well within her rights to quit her role on Deal or No Deal if it made her feel bad

The panel on The View said Meghan was well within her rights to quit her role on Deal or No Deal if it made her feel bad

‘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 said.

‘The objectification might be coming from you and how you felt about how these women were being portrayed.

‘That’s what you have to change because we’re performers. When you’re a performer, you take the gig… sometimes, you’re in a bozo suit, sometimes you got a big nose, and this is just the way it is.’

As the discussion on the talk show continued, the panel said that while Meghan was responsible for taking the job in the first place, she was well within her rights to walk away from it if that was how it made her feel.

‘My point is, if you see it and that’s how you feel, just maybe, you don’t want to make the other women feel bad because maybe they’re trying to make a living, too,’ Goldberg said.

Meghan, who appeared on 34 episodes of the show’s second season between 2006 and 2007, said she quit because she felt she was being ‘objectified’. The duchess revealed she was forced to get regular spray tans and wear a padded bra.

She claimed her time on the show made her feel ‘not smart’ because it was all about ‘looks’. 

In the newest episode of Meghan’s podcast, which was released on Tuesday and featured Paris Hilton as a guest star, the royal said she was grateful for the money she earned on Deal or No Deal as she tried to succeed as an actress – calling it ‘a short stint’ to pay the bills – but said she disliked ‘how it made her feel, which was not smart.’ 

 ‘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, Buenos Aires, and being in the motorcade with the secretary of treasury at the time and being valued specifically for my brain,’ she explained.

‘Here, I was being valued for something quite the opposite. I ended up quitting the show. I was so much more than what was being objectified on the stage.

Meghan, who appeared on the second season of the NBC series for 34 episodes between 2006 and 2007, said on her podcast that felt she was being 'objectified' on the show

Meghan, who appeared on the second season of the NBC series for 34 episodes between 2006 and 2007, said on her podcast that felt she was being ‘objectified’ on the show

The reality star (seen holding briefcase number one) featured on Deal or No Deal between 2005 and 2009, while Meghan (seen holding 24) appeared between 2006 and 2007

The reality star (seen holding briefcase number one) featured on Deal or No Deal between 2005 and 2009, while Meghan (seen holding 24) appeared between 2006 and 2007

Meghan (right) said she disliked 'how it made me feel, which was not smart' because 'I didn't like feeling forced to be all looks'

Meghan (right) said she disliked ‘how it made me feel, which was not smart’ because ‘I didn’t like feeling forced to be all looks’

Meghan's Spotify podcast has returned after a brief pause following the death of Prince Harry's grandmother the Queen

Meghan’s Spotify podcast has returned after a brief pause following the death of Prince Harry’s grandmother the Queen

‘I didn’t like feeling forced to be all looks and little substance. That’s how it felt for me at the time, being reduced to this specific archetype, the word bimbo.’

She added that she wanted her one-year-old daughter, Lilibet, to valued first for her mind, rather than her ‘beauty,’ unlike she was on the show.

‘I want our daughter to aspire to be slightly higher,’ she stated. ‘Yeah, I want my Lili to want to be educated and want to be smart and to pride herself on those things.’

The actress claimed that she and the other women on the show were forced to ‘line up’ for various beauty treatments including ‘padding in their bras,’ attaching fake eyelashes, and ‘putting in’ hair extensions.

‘We were even given spray-tan vouchers each week because there was a very cookie cutter idea, of precisely what we should look like,’ she added. ‘It was solely about our beauty.’

The wife of Prince Harry also said that a woman ‘in charge’ of the show would tell her to ‘suck it in’ before filming began, presumably an order to hold in her stomach on camera.

Real Housewives of Atlanta star Claudia, 49 - who appeared alongside Meghan, 41, on the show in the mid-2000s - posted a furious rant about the Duchess on her Instagram on Tuesday

Real Housewives of Atlanta star Claudia, 49 – who appeared alongside Meghan, 41, on the show in the mid-2000s – posted a furious rant about the Duchess on her Instagram on Tuesday

Meghan Markle's former Deal or No Deal co-star Claudia Jordan has fired back at her claims that she was 'reduced to a bimbo' on the game show

Meghan Markle's former Deal or No Deal co-star Claudia Jordan (pictured) has fired back at her claims that she was 'reduced to a bimbo' on the game show

Meghan Markle’s former Deal or No Deal co-star Claudia Jordan (right) has fired back at her claims that she was ‘reduced to a bimbo’ on the NBC game show

But Claudia Jordan, who appeared alongside Meghan, 41, on the NBC game show – posted a furious rant about the duchess on Instagram on Tuesday, hitting out at claims she made about the show in the latest episode of her Archetypes podcast.

Claudia, who starred in Deal or No Deal for four seasons from 2005 to 2009, slammed Meghan for her comments, explaining that the show ‘never treated them like bimbos’ and it helped provide ‘so many opportunities’ for them.

‘For clarity – yes getting a modeling gig on a game show isn’t necessarily about your intellect, but every show the executive producers picked five models with the most outgoing and fun personalities to place mics on, who they knew would engage with the contestants,’ she wrote in a post on her Instagram.

‘And Deal or No Deal never treated us like bimbos. We got so many opportunities because of that show.’

The reality star added that it’s the ‘kind of opportunity’ that ‘is what you make it’. She added: ‘If you just show up and don’t engage – then you’ll just get your check and not get much out of it.

Meghan (seen circled on the show in the back) had very differing opinions about the way in which briefcase girls were treated to her former co-star Claudia (seen circled in the front)

Meghan (seen circled on the show in the back) had very differing opinions about the way in which briefcase girls were treated to her former co-star Claudia (seen circled in the front)

‘But if you show up and seize your moments, there’s no limits to what you can do with the opportunity.’

Claudia explained that she ‘enjoyed’ working on Deal or No Deal, and claimed it helped launch a major career for her.

‘It was a step on the ladder I’ve been ascending on for 25 years that paid all my bills, put me in front of 13 million people a night, and led to me getting on Celebrity Apprentice, Celebrity Apprentice All Stars, a breast cancer awareness campaign, guest hosting Extra, getting into People magazine’s 100 Most Beautiful issue, and so much more,’ she continued.

‘It also led to me co-hosting the 2009 Miss Universe pageant with @BillyBush in front of half a billion people. Not to shabby for a ‘bimbo.”

While the 49-year-old wanted her followers to know that she was not ‘attacking’ Meghan, she said it was important for her to defend the show, and all of the people who worked so hard to make it a success.

‘Lord knows I’ve been defending this woman in the media for years,’ she explained. ‘And I still will, but I just didn’t want any misunderstanding about the climate and environment on the Deal or no Deal set.

‘And I’m especially protective of [host] Howie Mandel, who was nothing but kind and respectful to all 26 of us.’



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