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A woman who co-starred with the Duchess of Sussex during her time on Deal or No Deal has branded her recent “bimbo” comments as “insulting”.
Lisa Gleave is the second of Meghan Markle’s Deal or No Deal co-stars to criticise her for claiming she was “reduced to a bimbo” on the popular game show.
The Australian model insisted Meghan was “not treated like [a bimbo]” and praised the show for giving its “briefcase girls” a chance to secure other opportunities in showbiz.
In the latest episode of her Spotify podcast Archetypes, Meghan said that although she was “surrounded by smart women” on the show, their presence was focused “solely about our beauty”.
She told her guest Paris Hilton: “I didn’t like feeling 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, the word ‘bimbo’.
“I was thankful for the job but not for how it made me feel, which was not smart.”
Gleave told The Times: “I didn’t like the comment she made… She may have felt that way because of who she was, or who she was trying to be. But she was not treated like [a bimbo].”
The model suggested that, if Meghan did not want to be judged on her looks, she should not have applied to go on the show.
“The game show that we were on, Deal or No Deal, was all about beauty and glamour. And if she didn’t want to put herself in that position, then why did she?” she questioned, adding that she “personally never felt objectified”.
Gleave went on to say that, had Meghan not appeared on the show, she may “not have met [the Duke of Sussex], she might not have been cast on Suits”.
Meghan appeared on Deal or No Deal in the early days of her TV career before leaving in 2006. She went on to star in hit TV drama Suits from 2011 to 2017, and officially ended her acting career after marrying Prince Harry in 2018.
On Wednesday, shortly after the podcast episode was released, Meghan’s former co-star Claudia Jordan also said the show “never treated them like bimbos”.
She wrote on social media: “For clarity – yes getting a modelling 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.
“And Deal or No Deal never treated us like bimbos. We got so many opportunities because of that show.”
Jordan said that appearing on the game show led to her “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”.
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