A podcast interview in which Brooke Shields criticized Meghan Markle was deleted one week after it was posted.
The supermodel spoke with King Charles’ goddaughter, India Hicks, on an episode on India’s podcast An Unexpected Journey earlier this month. However, the video of the conversation is no longer available on her official website.
A link to the podcast episode leads to a “page not found” message on India’s site.
Brooke mentioned Meghan while discussing their participation in a SXSW panel in March 2024 titled “Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On and Off the Screen.”
Brooke Shields’ podcast interview with King Charles’ goddaughter, India Hicks, has been deleted
Image credits: Mike Coppola / Getty Images
According to The Independent, the 60-year-old star described Meghan as “too precious” and “serious” in the episode.
Brooke recalled that Meghan had told the panel a story about rejecting gender stereotypes at age 11.
“Katie [Couric, who led the panel] asks the first question to Meghan, and she talks about how at a young age, she was already advocating for women,” the actress began.
“She starts telling a story about how when she was 11 – and she keeps saying, ‘Well, when I was 11, I saw this commercial, and they were talking about how washing dishes was for women.
“And she said, ‘I didn’t think only women wash dishes. It wasn’t fair. So I wrote to the company.'”
Brooke continued, “She kept saying she was 11! She wrote to the company, they changed the text, they changed the commercial.
“It was just too precious, and I was like, ‘They’re not going to want to sit here for 45 minutes and listen to anybody be precious or serious.'”
The New York-born model said she interrupted the Duchess of Sussex to share a story of her own.
In the interview, Brooke recalled attending a panel on women’s issues with Meghan Markle last year
Brooke said she told the audience, “I just want to give everybody here a context as to how we’re different. When I was 11, I was playing a pr*stitute,” referring to her controversial role in the 1978 drama Pretty Baby.
After the joke, “the place went insane,” and the panel was “more relaxed,” she recalled.
Meghan shared that, at age 11, she wrote a letter to P&G to protest a soap commercial with the slogan, “Women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans”
Meghan previously shared that she wrote a letter to Procter & Gamble to challenge a soap commercial that aired with the slogan, “Women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans.”
The multinational company eventually changed the product’s slogan to “People all over America.”
Meghan’s social studies class had reportedly been assigned to watch commercials and assess them.
“I said, wait a minute, how could somebody say that? Just about one out of every three commercials is going to say something that’s going to hurt somebody’s feelings.”
The Duchess of Sussex mentioned the letter during a speech at the United Nations, recalling how she had felt “shocked, angry, and so hurt” that the cleaning product was initially advertised exclusively to women.
Led by Katie Couric, the panel was titled “Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On and Off the Screen”
She said that her father, Thomas Markle, had encouraged her to write letters to “powerful” figures to make her voice heard.
“My 11-year-old self worked out that if I really wanted someone to hear me, well then I should write a letter to the First Lady. So, off I went, scribbling away, to our First Lady at the time, Hillary Clinton.
“At the age of 11, I had created my small level of impact by standing up for equality.”
She also wrote letters to celebrity attorney Gloria Allred and Nick News anchor Linda Ellerbee.
India Hicks deleted this video from her substack, so i think we need it here for archive
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In her Nick News interview, the future royal encouraged viewers to take action when they witnessed social inequality.
“If you see something that you don’t like or are offended by on television or any other place, write letters and send them to the right people, and you can really make a difference, not just for yourself but for lots of other people.”
Brooke made a joke about her role in Pretty Baby to lighten the mood after Meghan’s “serious” story
Image credits: The Clip Edit / YouTube
The retired actress, who moved from the UK to California with her husband, Prince Harry, in 2020, has partnered with organizations like Smart Works, which assists women returning to the workforce. She has also been involved in projects focused on women’s issues during visits to Nigeria, Morocco, and India.
Social media users had a lot to say about Brooke’s interview with India Hicks being deleted, given India’s ties to the British royal family.
“But why can Meghan openly criticize the RF but no one can criticize her?” one user asked.
“Why did she take it down? Who put pressure on her?” another wondered.
A third shared, “That’s disappointing. I didn’t think Brooke was being mean or rude, she was just telling a funny story.”
“At the age of 11, I had created my small level of impact by standing up for equality,” said the Duchess of Sussex during the panel
Others defended Meghan, arguing that her story was relevant to the panel. “It was a forum for women about their rights and what they go through. It seems it would be appropriate for a somewhat serious setting.”
“Well, Katie asked Meghan to tell the dishwashing story again. She shouldn’t have opened that can of worms. But maybe it was pre-decided that she asked that question,” speculated someone else.
Brooke’s mention of Meghan in the podcast divided opinions online
