Whoopi Goldberg questions Meghan Markle feeling 'objectified' on Deal or No Deal : 'That's TV, baby'

Whoopi Goldberg is on the case of Meghan Markle, after the Duchess of Sussex revealed that she felt "objectified" during her time as a briefcase-opening assistant on season 2 of Howie Mandel's NBC game show Deal or No Deal.

"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 said on Wednesday's episode of The View, following Markle's comments about quitting the competition series on her Archetypes With Meghan podcast. "I don't know that the people who are sitting there are thinking about you like that. They're thinking, I want the money," Goldberg argued. "[Wheel of Fortune hostess] Vanna White is always in something interesting and beautiful, and she's been doing this. 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."

The Oscar-winning actress stressed to Markle that, "When you're a performer, you take the gig," which sometimes involves a "Bozo suit" or a "big nose," because that's "just the way it is" in Hollywood.

"We're not journalists, we're actors," Goldberg continued. "You left, and that was your prerogative. I feel bad, because I don't think people were looking at these girls like this, I think they want the money."

When Goldberg's View cohost Sunny Hostin suggested that Markle's words made her think about issues of fetishization of specific body types in the industry, Goldberg responded: "That's TV, baby. But, what did you think you were going to? You know that's what the show was."

ABC; Trae Patton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images Whoopi Goldberg responds to Meghan Markle's comments about feeling objectified on 'Deal or No Deal'

Goldberg ended the segment by cautioning Markle about not making "the other women feel bad, because they're trying to make a living, too."

On Archetypes With Meghan, Markle — who took the Deal or No Deal role as an early gig in Hollywood before joining the cast of the hit series Suits in 2011 — said she regularly felt uneasy with her work on the program.

"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," the 41-year-old said. "I didn't like feeling 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."

Markle later married into the British royal family when she tied the knot with Prince Harry on May 19, 2018. The couple eventually stepped back from their royal duties in 2020.

Watch Goldberg discuss Markle's comments in a clip from The View above.

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