Meghan Markle has been busy on the podcast front this week, giving her first-ever interview on close friend Jamie Kern Lima's show. She discussed everything from whether she'll run for president to the secret emails she sends to her kids each night, but the Duchess of Sussex also welcomed Kern Lima on her own "Confessions of a Female Founder" show April 29. During the episode, the duchess shared some memories from her acting career—and the setbacks she faced because of what she looked like.
IT Cosmetics founder Kern Lima admitted how it was tough building her makeup and skincare empire, sharing how stores weren't interested at first in seeing the products "on all ages and real people and sizes and skin tones."
The Duchess of Sussex revealed that at the same time, she was trying to build her own career. "That would have been when I was an actor, auditioning for commercials. And I remember my commercial agent could not submit me for beauty or skincare ads because I had freckles," she said.
"They're like, 'No, no, no, no, it's just never going to work because freckles aren't a sign of beauty,'" the duchess said, adding, "You couldn't see yourself reflected there." It wasn't just beauty ads that Meghan found tough to break into, even though she said that she was still able to "get into a lot of rooms."
"I heard no all the time, especially because I wasn't cookie-cutter for a specific type," the duchess said. "And at the start of my auditioning career, you were either the Black girl or the white girl or the Latina girl or the like, everything was typecast.”
Meghan also shared the advice she received from Oprah Winfrey when starting her new lifestyle brand, As ever. "Oprah, who I know as a mentor and friend to you, same for me, she was the one that said, 'There are tons of things you could put your name on,'" the duchess told Kern Lima.
Winfrey continued to Meghan, "But for you and how you like to show up for people, once you figure out how to encapsulate your essence, then you'll know."
