Meghan Markle Says ‘Deal or No Deal’ Made Her Feel Like a Bimbo

Meghan Markle is reflecting on her days on “Deal or No Deal” on her latest episode of “Archetypes,” talking about the labels “bimbo” and “dumb blonde.”

Years before she met Prince Harry, the Duchess was a “briefcase girl” on “Deal or No Deal.”

Meghan revealed to her guest Paris Hilton that she recently caught an old episode of the game show. "This brought back a lot of memories,” she told Hilton.

While she appreciated having the job, she felt like the role was all about beauty and not about brains.

Markle recalled, "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 shared, "There was a very cookie-cutter idea of precisely what we should look like. It was solely about beauty — and not necessarily about brains.” She said the “briefcase girls” would visit stations for lashes, extensions, and bra padding, and also received vouchers for spray tans.

The 41-yeaer-old said, "When I look back at that time, I'll never forget this one detail — because moments before we'd get onstage, there was a woman who ran the show and she'd be there backstage, and I can still hear her. She couldn't properly pronounce my last name at the time and I knew who she was talking to because she'd go, 'Markle, suck it in! Markle, suck it in!'"

Meghan eventually quit, saying, "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."

Paris said she could relate, after starring alongside Nicole Richie in “The Simple Life.” Nicole was supposed to be the “troublemaker” while Paris was the “rich, dumb blonde.”

Hilton ended up continuing that persona off-screen as well. "So, I almost got, like, stuck and lost in the character where I, at some points, it was like the lines got blurred or I, it's like, I forgot who I was," Paris explained. "And I don't know, makes me sad because I used to be such a free spirit, and I was just so like, I don't know, just like, not so closed off."

These days Paris is now an advocate fighting child abuse after her own experience at a residential school as a teen.

"Now I'm pushing for federal legislation and going to D.C. and yeah, it's just been so empowering. Just really turn my pain into a purpose," Paris said. "And I almost think that maybe God made me go through this and gave me this special gift so that one day I could be the hero that I needed when I was a little girl and help save these children from having to go through the torture that myself and so many others went through."