‘The View’: Whoopi Goldberg Takes Issue With Meghan Markle’s ‘Deal or No Deal’ Comments

Whoopi Goldberg has thoughts on Meghan Markle’s recent comments about feeling “objectified” during her time as a briefcase model on Deal of No Deal. The Oscar-winning actress questioned Markle taking an issue with her role on the NBC game show during a recent episode of her Archetypes podcast, revealing that she ended up leaving the series because of those issues.

“On that show, you basically had a suitcase and they wanted to know: ‘Is this the deal you want, or is this not the deal you want?’” Goldberg told her co-hosts on Wednesday’s The View. “I don’t know that the people who are sitting there are thinking about you like that. They’re thinking, ‘I want the money.’”

The Sister Act star brought Wheel of Fortune host Vanna White into the conversation as a comparison. “Vanna White is always in something interesting and beautiful, and she’s been doing this,” she continued. “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.”

Goldberg continued that while leaving was certainly the Duchess of Sussex’s “prerogative,” she feels “bad” because she didn’t feel like Markle’s role was one that was being objectified. She added later, “That’s TV, baby. But, what did you think you were going to [do]? You know that’s what the show was.”

On her podcast, the Suits alum revealed that while she was “thankful” for the job on Deal or No Deal, she didn’t appreciate how it made her feel, “which was not smart.” She added, “And by the way, I was surrounded by smart women on that stage with me, but that wasn’t the focus of why we were there.” She continued, “I would end up leaving with this pit in my stomach knowing that I was so much more than what was being objectified on the stage. I didn’t like being 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.”