“The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg took issue with Meghan Markle’s claims about her time on “Deal or No Deal.”
During an episode of the show Wednesday, the co-hosts reacted to comments Markle made about being a briefcase assistant on the popular game show.
“I ended up quitting the show. Like I said, I was thankful for the job, but not for how it made me feel,” Markle said during an episode of her podcast.
She added, “I would end up leaving with this pit in my stomach, knowing that I was so much more than what was being objectified on this stage. 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.”
Goldberg appeared to have no sympathy for Markle.
“I don’t know that the people who are sitting there are thinking about you like that. They’re thinking, ‘I want the money,'” Goldberg said.
She continued, “Vanna White is always in something interesting and beautiful, and she’s been doing this.”
Goldberg suggested the “objectification might be coming from you and how you felt about how these women were being portrayed, and that’s what you have to change because we’re performers. When you’re a performer, you take the gig.”
Acknowledging that it was Markle’s choice to leave, Goldberg argued, “I feel bad because I don’t think people were looking at these girls like this, I think people want the money.”
Watch her comments below:
After receiving pushback from her co-hosts, Goldberg fired back, “That’s TV, baby.”
Concluding her remarks, Goldberg suggested Markle should not make “the other women feel bad because they’re trying to make a living, too.”
Claudia Jordan, former star of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, shared her experience on “Deal or No Deal” following Markle’s claims.
“For clarity — yes getting a modeling 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,” Jordan said on Instagram Stories.
She added, “And ‘Deal or No Deal’ never treated us like bimbos. We got so many opportunities because of that show.”
Still, Jordan noted her message was not an “attack on Meghan cause Lord knows I’ve been defending this woman in the media for years and I still will but I just didn’t want any misunderstanding about the climate and environment on the ‘Deal or No Deal’ set.”
