Brooke Shields Explains Why She Cut off Meghan Markle During Recent Public Interview

Brooke Shields and Meghan Markle had an interesting exchange. The two women participated in an International Women’s Day discussion called “Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On and Off the Screen” led by famed journalist, Katie Couric, at SXSW in March 2024, where Markle reflected on a letter she wrote about gender equality at age 11, PEOPLE reports.

In a recent episode of The India Hicks Podcast, Shields said the Duchess of Sussex’s story was too “serious,” and she didn’t think her words would resonate with the SXSW audience. Many felt she was too critical.

“Katie asks the first question to Meghan and she talks about how at a young age, she was already advocating for women,” Shields said, as reported by 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 explained. “And she said, ‘I didn’t think only women wash dishes. It wasn’t fair. So I wrote to the company.’”

Shields added, “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 actress told Hicks she then interrupted Meghan to try and lighten the tone, which didn’t go over well with spectators. “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 explained.

Shields joked on 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,” she said in reference to her role in 1978’s Pretty Baby. According to Shields, the crowd erupted in laughter and the mood was more “relaxed.”