In March 2024, the Duchess of Sussex made an appearance at the SXSW Festival. She was invited to participate in a panel discussion for International Women’s Day. Brooke Shields and Katie Couric were also on the panel. Honestly, there was so much going on in March 2024, I don’t think I even watched the video of the panel discussion at the time (and I still won’t). Apparently, at one point in the discussion, Brooke Shields interrupted Meghan when Meghan was retelling the story of getting Procter & Gamble to change their sexist commercial. Brooke was asked about that moment in a podcast interview, and she said she interrupted Meghan because Meg was being “too precious” and “serious.”
Brooke Shields shared candid remarks about Meghan Markle after the two participated in a panel about women’s empowerment last year, calling the Duchess of Sussex “too precious.” While appearing on the latest episode of India Hicks’ podcast, Shields said Meghan’s story was too “serious,” and she didn’t think her words would resonate with the SXSW audience.
“Katie asks the first question to Meghan and she talks about how at a young age, she was already advocating for women,” Shields said, per The Independent. “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,” Shields told Hicks, who is King Charles’ goddaughter. “And she said, ‘I didn’t think only women wash dishes. It wasn’t fair. So I wrote to the company.’ 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 Mother of the Bride star told Hicks she then interrupted Meghan to try and lighten the tone.
“I go, ‘Excuse me, I’m so sorry, I’ve got to interrupt you there for one minute.’ I was trying not to be rude, but I wanted to be funny because it was so serious,” Shields said.
She then joked to the panel, “I just want to give everybody here a context as to how we’re different. When I was 11, I was playing a prostitute,” referring to her role in 1978’s Pretty Baby.
Shields said “the place went insane” after her quip, and the panel was “more relaxed” after.
I think multiple things can be true at once: Brooke’s interruption probably did lighten the mood of the panel; Brooke interrupted and talked over a woman of color on International Women’s Day, with f–king sucks; Brooke was centering herself like a narcissistic a–hole; Meghan was being a tad repetitive. I also think Meghan’s vibe is so teachery, especially since she’s had kids. The only way I can explain it is that you can tell that she spends a lot of time talking to people under the age of 5. Also: what in the world is Brooke doing on India Hicks’ podcast? No wonder the conversation turned to Meghan.
Here’s the full video of the SXSW panel discussion. You can skip to the 6:15-mark to see Couric ASK Meghan specifically about the commercial, and Meghan answering the question. Brooke’s interruption happens around the 7:20 mark.
Photos courtesy of YouTube screengrabs, Avalon Red.
