Meghan Markle's recent interview with Paris Hilton on the sixth episode of her hit solo podcast Archetypes revealed an example of "stories of triumph" that "anyone is able to relate to," furthering the duchess's goal of "giving women a voice," a podcasting expert told Newsweek.
The royal's interview with Hilton formed the central basis of the podcast episode titled "Breaking Down the Bimbo," in which the pair unpicked the public persona that the star revealed she had adopted as a result of time spent in an abusive school environment and negative media attention.
Archetypes marks Meghan's first major solo media output since she stepped down as a working member of the royal family, and its stated aim is to "dissect, explore and subvert the labels that try to hold women back."
"Her goal is to go against stereotypes and to give women a voice," Robin Kinnie, a podcasting expert and president of Audio Engineers of Detroit, told Newsweek.
"I think her audience are women like myself who not only want to cheer other women on but they also want to learn the tools to do that. I listened to the interview with Paris Hilton. Her talking about the horrific experience she had at a boarding school and how she had to put on this armour when she got out to say 'OK, I'm going to be successful so I'm going to take on this identity,' while also talking about how eventually she came into her own...those stories of triumph, anyone is able to relate to."
It was while at boarding school, Hilton told Meghan, that she began building the "Barbie doll character" that she would become famous for in later life, as a coping mechanism.
"I just always felt like Barbie had, like, this perfect life," she said. "She's beautiful. She always is happy."
After a number of years, which included starring on the reality show The Simple Life, of being caricatured by the press for this image, Hilton discussed the importance of deconstructing the mask so that people were aware of the real person beneath and could recognize her personal achievements.
Hannah Yelin, an academic and the author of Celebrity Memoir: From Ghostwriting to Gender Politics, told Newsweek that Hilton, in particular, stands as an example of a media personality who built a self-deprecating image as a defense mechanism.
"She talks about doing the talk show circuit, making a joke of herself like it's the best and perhaps only way to have any power as a woman in the media," Yellin says of the star's 2005 memoir, Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose.
"This is the role of the bimbo archetype in the star image of Paris Hilton, she suggests that if you can show you're 'in on the joke' of your campy performative bimbohood, that's your best defense against media sexism that will time and again reduce you to a dumb sex object.
"It's a very instructive moment showing the ways that women in the public eye are constrained in the ways they can represent themselves by longstanding misogynist narratives," she continued.
"There's little space for women who take themselves seriously. If participating in jokes at your own expense is the agency available - even for an heiress! - that shows how limited the space for women in the public eye can be."
In many ways, Meghan's Archetypes is contributing a platform within the landscape of digital media from which women can present their own version of themselves while discussing the labels that have been placed onto them by society.
In the first episode, Serena Williams discussed the negative connotations of the word "ambitious," while the royal and Mariah Carey explored the archetype of "diva" in the second release.
"I wasn't surprised at all that she chose podcasting to really elevate her voice and elevate the voices of women," Kinnie told Newsweek, adding that the audio medium of podcasting can help remove the visual barriers facing women.
"I think another element when it comes to women in podcasting in particular, is that podcasting takes away the visual element which in some cases can work against women because we are judged to a different standard to men," she said.
"In order for some people to hear us we have to look a certain way. So podcasting is a way to strip away all of that and just concentrate on what I am saying and I think that makes it a very powerful tool."
Meghan has said that an element of podcasting that attracts her is the intimacy of the listening experience.
"When I was doing Suits, that character, Rachel Zane, was in your living room with you while you were in your pajamas eating Chinese takeout. That's how connected the experience felt then. But to create a cultural moment or conversation requires something different today," she told Variety.
"Podcasting has been really interesting in that way. It might be one of the only remaining forums where people are alone to listen. Where else do you have that opportunity?"
On what she hoped people would take away from her podcast series, the duchess expressed a wish for the public to see a glimpse of the real her and her real voice.
"My hope for Archetypes is that people come out thinking, 'Oh! She's a real person! She laughs and asks questions and approaches things with curiosity,'" she said.
The series releases weekly episodes each Tuesday, with six installments left to debut before the end of the year.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more
