Breaking it down. Meghan Markle addressed the stereotype of the “angry Black woman” during the latest of her “Archetypes” podcast.
The Duchess of Sussex, 41, discussed the topic with guest stars Issa Rae and Ziwe, both of whom discussed the ways the stereotype had affected them in their professional lives. The Insecure alum, 37, noted that a colleague had once described her as “particular.” Coming from that person, the word was a compliment, but the Bench author noted that it could be received negatively from others.
“Even though in that moment that you’re describing where this colleague says, ‘Yeah, you’re particular,’ you can receive it that way,” the Suits alum said during the Tuesday, October 25, episode of her Spotify podcast. “But if he describes you that way to someone else, they’re like, ‘Oh, what does that mean?'”
Rae added: “Yeah, like, particular how?”
Though Meghan said that she describes herself as “particular,” she can still find herself “cowering and tiptoeing into a room” when she’s worried about how she’ll be perceived.
“I don’t know if you do the thing that I find the most embarrassing, when you’re saying a sentence, but the intonation goes up like it’s a question,” the former actress explained. “And I was just like, ‘Oh, my God, stop, stop, whispering and tiptoeing around it.’ Just say what it is that you need. You’re allowed to set a boundary. You’re allowed to be clear. It does not make you demanding. It does not make you difficult. [It] makes you clear.”
The California native didn’t specifically mention her life in the royal family, but in previous episodes of “Archetypes,” she detailed the backlash she faced when she questioned certain decisions. In the show’s inaugural episode, the duchess recounted a story from her 2019 visit to Southern Africa with husband Prince Harry and their son, Archie, now 3. (The twosome also share daughter Lili, 16 months.)
While Meghan and the Duke of Sussex, 38, were at an event, a fire broke out in Archie’s nursery. The baby — who was then 4 months old — was fine, but his parents were understandably upset. Despite the dramatic incident, however, the couple had to continue with their next royal engagement.
“As a mother, you go, ‘Oh, my God, what?’ Everyone’s in tears, everyone’s shaken,” the former Tig blogger explained. “And what do we have to do? Go out and do another official engagement? I said, ‘This doesn’t make any sense.’”
The Deal or No Deal alum and the Invictus Games founder announced their decision to step down as senior working royals in January 2020. One year after their final official engagement, the duo opened up about their experiences in a tell-all interview with CBS and pointed to racism as one of the reasons that they decided to make a change.
“For us, for this union and the specifics around her race, there was an opportunity — many opportunities — for my family to show some public support,” Harry said in March 2021. “And I guess one of the most telling parts and the saddest parts, I guess, was over 70 female members of Parliament, both Conservative and Labour, came out and called out the colonial undertones of articles and headlines written about Meghan. Yet no one from my family ever said anything. That hurts.”
