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Katie Piper has defended Meghan Markle, saying that she finds the scrutiny levelled at The Duchess of Sussex ‘toxic’.
Speaking on Loose Women today, Katie went in to bat for Meghan after the former Suits actress opened up about how she felt ‘objectified’ while working as a ‘suitcase girl’ on Deal or No Deal.
‘Anytime Meghan says anything she’s scrutinised in a way a lot of women aren’t and I find that quite toxic, that treatment of her,’ Piper said as the panel discussed the comments Meghan made on her Spotify podcast.
‘I totally understand what she was saying. She was looking back on her past and she’s now in a different part of her life.’
Katie said that now that Meghan is a mum and a ‘few more years older’, she’s ‘reflecting’ on the past and saying: ‘Actually I’m not comfortable with that anymore and I wouldn’t do that now and at the time I thought it was ok but now I feel different.’
The Loose Women star stressed that it’s ‘ok to feel different about things as the years go on’, adding: ‘Just because you consented in the past it’s ok to change your mind and I think it’s important we normalise that for women as well and don’t try to call her out on it.’
Katie defended Meghan on the ITV programme (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
Jumping into the discussion, Brenda Edwards said she wanted to reclaim the word ‘bimbo’ to instead mean ‘bright individual making bright opportunities’.
However, Jane Moore said that she would ‘rather just not use it at all’.
The comments come after the Duchess of Sussex reflected on her first foray into showbusiness on the latest episode of her Archetypes podcast.
Meghan was on Deal or No Deal between 2006 and 2007 (Picture: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
Years before she was cast as Rachel Zane in legal drama Suits, Meghan worked as a ‘briefcase girl’ on 34 episodes of the US version of the gameshow Deal or No Deal.
Speaking to Paris Hilton on her podcast, the duchess said that although she was ‘grateful’ for the opportunity, she felt that she was ‘treated like a bimbo’.
She went on to say that she was determined that her daughter Lilibet aspires to be ‘slightly higher’.
‘Yeah, I want my Lili to want to be educated and want to be smart and to pride herself on those things,’ she told Paris.
Meghan Markle during her time on Deal or No Deal (Picture: Trae Patton/NBCU)
Joining Deal or No Deal in its second season, Meghan said that she felt she was ‘being objectified’ on the stage.
‘I didn’t like feeling forced to be all looks and little substance,’ she continued.
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‘And that’s how it felt for me at the time being reduced to this specific archetype the word “bimbo” – 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”.’
Meghan said that she 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’.
‘Like I said, I was thankful for the job but not for how it made me feel which was not smart,’ she recalled.
Loose Women airs weekdays from 12.30pm on ITV.
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The Loose Women panel weighed in.