Brooke Shields Interrupts Meghan Markle With 'Rude' Comment During Panel — With Actress Spitting 'No One Wants to Listen' to Duchess Being 'Serious'
Brooke Shields had an issue with Meghan Markle's response during a panel.
June 2 2025, Published 6:35 p.m. ET
Brooke Shields didn't exactly like Meghan Markle's "serious" demeanor during a panel, and she let her know, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Shields and Markle both attended the Keynote: Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On and Off the Screen panel in March 2024, but things got awkward quickly.
She Said What?
Shields had no problem at all cutting off Markle during a panel after the royal became 'too serious.'
The actress hopped on India Hicks' podcast to discuss the moment, and recalled: "Katie (Couric) asks the first question to Meghan and talks about how at a young age, she was already advocating for women, etc, etc.
"(Meghan) 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 washing dishes and only soap for washing dishes was for women.'"
Shields continued: "And she said, 'I didn't think only women wash dishes. It wasn't fair. So I wrote to the company. And when I was 11, I wrote my first letter, and when I was 11...' and she kept saying she was 11! She wrote to the company, they changed the text, they changed the commercial."
Markle was discussing her childhood when she was interrupted by Shields.
However, the response, seen in the video below starting at 6 minutes in, proved to be a bit too stuffy for the Blue Lagoon actress, who continued: "So 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.
"I just want to give everybody here a context as to how we're different. I said, 'Well, when I was 11, I was playing a prostitute. The place went insane. And then luckily, it was more relaxed after that."
Shields indeed played a prostitute in the 1978 film Pretty Baby, and sparked plenty of controversy.
Much Too Serious
Shields recalled the moment during an episode on India Hicks' podcast.
Shields' comments, however, didn't leave the best taste in her mouth: "I was like, oh, I hope she doesn't think I'm rude. I'm not being rude."
"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 movie star said, and added she doesn't think Markle received the joke very well.
"Afterwards, she was kind of like, 'oh, okay'. And I was like, 'let's just have some fun with it.' I don't know if you'll have to cut this out," Shields recalled.
Is Markle Playing The Victim Role?
Shields worried her comments to the Duchess would be considered 'rude.'
Markle is taking plenty of hits lately from the entertainment community, as comic Tim Dillon recently labeled the royal a "victim."
During an interview, Dillon bashed: "I think it's just that she came to prominence at a time when there was a real cultural cachet to being a victim, and I thought it was a very funny way to be a victim, and she found a way to be a victim while living in a castle."
Dillon said the former Suits star is a "great comedic actress," and added: "I think that there was real currency in being a victim when she rose to prominence, and she became a victim living in a castle married to a prince with the royal wedding, and I thought that was very funny..."
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Markle and her husband, Prince Harry, have been taking hits left and right lately.
Markle's husband, Prince Harry, has also had a bad time recently as he lost his court battle to get more security while in the United Kingdom, and the mom-of-two didn't want him to continue to push the issue.
"Meghan didn’t want Harry to pursue an appeal because if he lost, he would be required to cover legal costs for both sides," an insider told RadarOnline.com. "But there was no talking him out of it. He was determined to make a point, and he truly believed the court would side with him."
