Meghan Markle thanked her friend Jameela Jamil today for ‘fighting back’ on her behalf after the British actress and influencer said the royal has been ‘demonized’ since her marriage to Prince Harry.
In the newest Archetypes podcast titled ‘The Audacity of the Activist,’ Miss Jamil, 36, revealed that the former Suits actor secretly reaches out to women ‘in our most lonely and desperate moments.’
The Duchess of Sussex spoke with the British actress and influencer and the American-Iranian star of X-Men and 24, Shohreh Aghdashloo, 70, who discusses the fight to ‘bring democracy back’ to her native country amid ongoing protests in Tehran and across the country over the treatment of women violating strict hijab rules.
Meghan and her guests discussed why women’s activism and ‘great ideas’ are ‘frequently judged daring’ and used against them to make them ‘feel small’; at one point, the Duchess asserts that women receive ‘no credit and all the blame’.
The host and actress participated on the ninth edition of the Duchess’ show, titled “The Audacity of the Activist with Jameela Jamil and Shohreh Aghdashloo.”
Jameela compared her connection with James Blake to Meghan Markle’s marriage to Prince Harry in the episode, stating, “[James] is just a wonderful guy, an incredible friend, and I don’t believe I could have endured all of this without him.” I am aware that you and Harry share a very similar dynamic. You two have a really beautiful dynamic.’
Jameela responded to Meghan’s question on how James supported her by stating, “Perhaps he just likes that I am entirely myself, and I believe he enjoys the fact that I am not suppressed in any way.”
Therefore, I do not have a place where I need to let off some steam.
“I do not harbor any poison.” I say everything that’s on my mind, with varied effects.’
Jameela continued, ‘He is really supportive of me, and he has encouraged me to learn how to fight back, speak my opinion, and recognize my value; he’s a terrific ally.’
He is a fantastic source of strength and comfort, as well as someone who can take my phone away because he is six feet seven inches tall and I cannot reach it when he is holding it.
‘You know, he’s there if I need my phone confiscated. I don’t believe I could have endured all of this without him because he knows me and because he is such a great person and friend.
She continued by comparing the bond to that of Harry and Meghan, saying, “It was so great to see that in your house.”
Meghan recalls her acquaintance with Miss Jamil, with whom she has spent time in the United Kingdom and the United States but has not seen in over a year. Diet culture, body shaming, and social media trolling are also discussed.
Meghan included Jamil as one of her 15 Forces For Change in the September 2019 issue of Vogue that she guest-edited, and it was then that the two became friends.
A source said in 2020 that Jameela and her musician lover James Blake met at the couple’s large California estate a day after she called Prince Andrew a pedophile on Twitter.
On August 22, one day before to their supposed visit and on the same day as the tweet, Jamil and Blake were photographed strolling on a beach in Montecito, just a short distance from Meghan and Harry’s new residence.
Meghan was accused of violating royal family protocol by being politically active, but Jamil publically defended her.
And the pals discuss the number of women who “must remain small” in order to avoid criticism.
The Duchess of Sussex begins the podcast by stating that she believes to’stand for anything’ is to’stand for something good’, but adds: ‘Not everyone agrees with me, particularly when it comes to women.’
She inquires, “Why is it regarded as “how dare she” and why do others feel the need to make a woman with strong beliefs feel small?”
I began to observe an almost automatic eye roll whenever someone mentioned a woman fighting for a cause, as if to say, “Here she goes again,” or perhaps, “Why can’t she just sit down?”
‘The underlying annoyance that seems to encircle women in activism astounded me, and I could not wrap my head around it. I still can’t’.
Jamil asserts that stereotypes are used to’shame’ women by forcing them to be flawless or feel like failures.
She stated, “Are you sure that all of these measures are intended to quiet us? To tire us. Before we can be admitted, we are given all this additional homework consisting of all these levels of perfection to achieve.
It is perfectly designed to make us too exhausted to fight for our rights, just as it is difficult to fight for equality while you are starving.
It is difficult to fight for equality when you are taking a weight loss medicine that is damaging your internal organs.
When you are forced to give birth to a child you did not want and are not prepared for, it is difficult to fight for equality.
She said, ‘I must live by my own standard, continually challenge myself to be better than I was the day before.
“I’m not here to meet anyone’s expectations. Important to my resistance is the fact that I am not here to be understood or liked.
I am here to be myself. That is my privilege. I’m not here to conform to a preconceived notion of what women are supposed to be.
In the past, Jamil defended Meghan against allegations that she violated royal family standards by being politically active.
The former T4 star wrote, “I *THINK* they are more embarrassed by their alleged resident pedo Andrew, who was friends with a sex trafficker, than by an American supporting women’s voting in her own country and obliquely referencing the importance of general democracy, which is currently under threat here.”
A Twitter user responded to Jamil’s article with the question, “Why does everyone want to dislike her so much?”
‘
Because she is not white,’ Jamil said. And because she is intelligent, powerful, opinionated, rebellious, gorgeous, and content, they never will. She is a terrible challenge to patriarchy since she does not conform to the female stereotype. They disparage her because they are unable to eliminate her.
Virginia Roberts, now known as Virginia Giuffre, claims she was trafficked by the pedophile financier Epstein and that the duke had intercourse with her three times, including when she was 17 years old.
Andrew has explicitly denied having sexual contact with or a romantic relationship with Giuffre.
Meghan Markle stated last week that’strong-minded women’ are labeled ‘difficult’ because it is a codeword for ‘b*tch’ and that ‘although not everyone will like you, the goal can be for everyone to appreciate you’
The Duchess of Sussex stated in her most recent Archetypes podcast for Spotify that the ‘B-word’ is used to ‘gaslight’ people who know what they want.
Meghan also stated that she dislikes the epithet “pushy” and that she modifies her behavior to avoid being regarded as such.
Meghan explains what people mean when they use the term “b*tch”: “When they use this highly charged term, they are expressing that this lady is problematic.
Which is either merely a euphemism or not even a euphemism. It is actually a codename for the B-word.
In reference to the word “difficult” as a descriptor for women, she continued, “My friend told me that there comes a time when you realize that not everyone is going to like you; the goal cannot be for everyone to like you, but it may be for them to respect you.”
Meghan stated that her friends are’reclaiming’ and ‘loving’ the ‘B-word,’ but she refuses to use it on her podcast, instead referring to it as the ‘B-word’ or spelling it out for listeners. She stated that she would never use it to refer to a male dog.
She recalled, “When I was a child, people would say, “Sticks and stones may break your bones, but names can never hurt you.” Well, that was a complete fabrication. Obviously, names hurt. But what happens when we use that hurt to fuel our mission, when the B-word is shouted with one intention, but you are able to let it go and remind yourself of all the other words with a ‘B’ that more accurately describe you? Gorgeous, blessed, brilliant, alluring, delightful, bedazzling. Choose your option.
This week, Meghan chatted with business executives and entrepreneurs, including Mellody Hobson, the first black woman to head an S&P 500 firm and the chairwoman of Starbucks. She is married to the inventor of Star Wars, George Lucas.
The episode titled “To ‘B’ or not to ‘B’” also features the makeup mogul and Meghan’s friend Victoria Jackson. In Montecito, California, Miss Jackson is part of the Sussexes’ “close-knit group of pals.” In the 1970s, she described being ‘raped and stabbed’ by the renowned ‘pillowcase rapist’
After her daughter was diagnosed with a rare and frequently fatal eye ailment, Miss Jackson built a $1 billion business and subsequently transitioned into medical research.
Meghan has discussed similar topics with her Archetypes guests, such as what it means to be a “diva” with Mariah Carey and the myth surrounding singletons with Mindy Kaling.
She also said that her favorite television program as a child was Jeopardy! on the most recent installment of her Archetypes series.