Brooke Shields felt like she had to intervene when a panel discussion got awkward because of Meghan Markle. Both Brooke and the Duchess of Sussex spoke during an International Women’s Day panel for SXSW in March 2024. In Brooke’s opinion, Meghan took the conversation a bit too seriously. This made the Pretty Baby star feel like she had to step in and lighten the mood.
Meghan told a story from her childhood.
During the panel, which was called “Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On and Off the Screen,” broadcaster Katie Couric interjected at one point to ask Meghan to tell the story about a letter she wrote to Procter & Gamble when she was just 11 years old.
As requested, Meghan went on to explain that she had seen a dishwashing liquid commercial that seemed sexist when she was 11. According to Meghan, the commercial said, “Women around America are fighting greasy pots and pans.” She said she found the commercial “infuriating,” and wrote a letter to the company. The company reportedly changed the language used in the commercial to “people all over America.”
Brooke Shields interjected to share what she was doing when she was 11 years old.
After Meghan told her story, Brooke chimed in with, “This is one of the ways where we differ. When I was 11, I was playing a prostitute.” She was referring to her role in Pretty Baby. The audience laughed, and Brooke went on to say that she “would’ve been writing very different letters” compared to what Meghan was writing at that age.
The actress recently explained why she decided to ‘interrupt’ Meghan.
On the latest episode of India Hicks’ podcast, Brooke thought back to the panel and explained why she felt like she had to lighten the mood a bit. “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,” Brooke recalled on the podcast, per The Independent. “And she said, ‘I didn’t think only women wash dishes. It wasn’t fair. So I wrote to the company.'”
Brooke thought this story was “precious” — but she was also concerned that Meghan was being far too “serious.”
“She kept saying she was 11! She wrote to the company, they changed the text, they changed the commercial,” Brooke continued. “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.”
She thinks people felt more ‘relaxed’ after she interrupted Meghan.
Meghan seemed passionate about the topic, but Brooke seemed to think it was a bit much. The actress noticed that the panel conversation was “more relaxed after” she joked about her controversial Pretty Baby role. She clarified that when attempting to shift the conversation, she was “trying not to be rude” but also “wanted to be funny because it was so serious.”
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