Brooke Shields has revealed she interrupted Meghan Markle during a live panel discussion, calling the Duchess of Sussex "too precious".
The Hollywood actress shared details on the incident during the latest episode of India Hicks' podcast, describing how she felt compelled to break the tension during the March 2024 SXSW Conference panel in Austin, Texas.
Shields said the atmosphere became overly serious when Meghan began telling her well-known anecdote about writing to Procter & Gamble aged 11 to protest gender stereotypes in a dishwashing advert.
"It was just too precious," Shields explained, adding that she worried the audience wouldn't want to "sit here for 45 minutes and listen to anybody be precious or serious."
Meghan Markle has been branded 'too precious' by actress Brooke Shields
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The actress described how host Katie Couric asked Meghan the opening question about her early advocacy for women.
"Katie asks the first question to Meghan and talks about how at a young age, she was already advocating for women, etcetera, etcetera," Shields recalled.
The Duchess began recounting her story about the Ivory dish soap advertisement, which originally stated "Mothers around America are fighting greasy pots and pans." Shields noted Meghan's repetitive emphasis on her age during the telling.
"She kept saying she was 11!" Shields said, describing how Meghan repeatedly mentioned writing to the company as an 11-year-old to change the wording to "people all over America."
Brooke Shields revealed she felt compelled to interrupt the Duchess of Sussex
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Shields decided to interrupt Meghan mid-speech to lighten the mood. "I go, 'Excuse me, I'm so sorry. I've got to interrupt you there for one minute,'" she recalled.
"I was trying not to be rude, but I wanted to be funny because it was so serious," Shields explained.
She told the audience: "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 comment referenced Shields' controversial breakout role in the 1978 film Pretty Baby, where she played a child sex worker at age 11.
Meghan and Shields were appearing at the SXSW Conference panel in Austin, Texas, in 2024.
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"The place went insane. And then luckily, it was more relaxed after that," Shields said, describing how the crowd erupted in laughter and the tension was broken.
Shields explained her motivation for the interruption, saying she wanted to inject humour into what had become an overly earnest discussion.
"I was like, oh, I hope she doesn't think I'm rude. I'm not being rude," she admitted on the podcast.
India Hicks, the podcast host and daughter of Lady Pamela Mountbatten, supported Shields' decision to lighten the atmosphere. "I think it's genius," she said.
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Shields was initially unsure about Meghan's reaction to the intervention
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Shields described Meghan's reaction to the interruption as somewhat cool, suggesting the Duchess may not have appreciated the comedic intervention. "And then afterwards, she was kind of like, oh, okay. And I was like, let's just have some fun with it," Shields recalled.
The actress acknowledged uncertainty about how well her interruption had been received by Meghan personally, despite the positive crowd response. "I don't know if you'll have to cut this out," she added during the podcast interview.
Meghan's story about challenging the Procter & Gamble advertisement is one she has shared on multiple occasions throughout her public speaking engagements.
The anecdote, which she credits as sparking her lifelong advocacy against inequality, has previously faced scrutiny, with reports suggesting it was removed from her 2017 Vanity Fair cover interview after failing the magazine's fact-checking process.
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