‘Excuse me': Brooke Shields unleashes on ‘precious' Meghan Markle after ‘rude' encounter on South by Southwest panel

Sky News AU

2 days ago

Model and actress Brooke Shields has spoken out about the viral moment she dared to interrupt Meghan Markle during an awkward onstage encounter.
The Duchess of Sussex and the Blue Lagoon star were both tapped to sit on a panel marking International Woman's Day at the prestigious South by Southwest Festival last year.
During the appearance, Markle referenced the time she wrote a letter to Procter and Gamble as a child asking them to gender-neutralise a dishwashing soap commercial.
The story has been repeated multiple times, including during Meghan Markle's Vanity Fair cover story she negotiated after she began dating Prince Harry.
In a twist, Vanity Fair later deleted the anecdote from their piece after the magazine's fact checkers were unable to substantiate Markle's version of events.
Shields, 60, opened up about her decision to cut off Markle's favourite story during a podcast interview hosted by King Charles' goddaughter India Hicks.
'Meghan said, 'I didn't think only women wash dishes,'' Shields recalled.
'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!"
The entertainment industry veteran sensed that Markle's oft-repeated story about writing letters to a detergent company was hardly riveting for the audience.
"It was just too precious," Shields explained to as to why she decided to chime in.
"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 Endless Love star explained that she did not intend to be 'rude' to the ex-working royal but wanted to lighten the mood after Markle's earnest story.
"Excuse me, I'm so sorry. I've got to interrupt you there for one minute,' she said.
"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," she told the crowd.'
The actress then pointed out to Markle how when she was the same age she was playing a prostitute - referring to her controversial role in the 1978 film, Pretty Baby - which drew immediate laughter from the audience.
"The place went insane. And then luckily, it was more relaxed after that," Shields said.