Meghan Markle Insists She Hates The B-Word and Refuses To Reclaim It On Podcast

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Meghan Markle addressed her least favorite word on the Nov. 8 episode of her Archetypes podcast, titled “To ‘B’ or Not to ‘B’?” The 41-year-old former actress revealed she despises the word b—ch (the B-word) and did not once say it during her podcast. “What these people are implying when they use that very charged word is that this woman, oh, she’s difficult,” she asserted. “Which is really just a euphemism or probably not even a euphemism, but really a code word for the B-word.”

Adding onto her point, she said, “Labeling a woman as a ‘B-word’ or as ‘difficult’ is often a deflection. A way to hide some of her really awesome qualities, her persistence or strength or perseverance, her strong opinion, maybe even her resilience, and those are the very qualities we’re going to be uncovering today.” She also noted that the B-word is a very dismissive word. “Well isn’t that a convenient villain?  … It becomes a way to take their power away and keep them in their place,” she explained.

The Duchess of Sussex spent a portion of her podcast speaking to Robin Thede, the founder of A Black Lady Sketch Show, and learning how she personally has reframed her mind to see the term in a more positive way, such as using it in the phrase, “bad b—ch.” However, while Robin’s recycling of the word has helped her and may help others, Meghan admitted she’s comfortable with ditching the word forever.

“I mean, for a person who hates the word so much, this is giving me hives,” she confessed. “As you may have guessed, I have zero interest in reclaiming this term. But these women I respect, whose work I love, a lot of them are entirely comfortable with that. They want to do that. To take the power out of it.”

Meghan also chatted with entrepreneur and beauty guru Victoria Jackson about the B-word and hypothesized why it has such an impact on society. “Maybe that’s why I have such a visceral reaction to this word. Because it was implanted on a granular level without any of us thinking about it at the time,” she debated. “And so, these stereotypes that were lurking beneath the surface of these characterizations, they just became ingrained in us without any real understanding.”

In October, the mother of two discussed a phrase that can certainly be correlated with the B-word: “angry Black woman”. She analyzed the term with actress Issa Rae, 37, and admitted to previously making herself smaller to avoid being labeled with the phrase. “The thing that I find the most embarrassing, [is] when you’re saying a sentence and the intonation goes up like it’s a question,” she described. “And you’re like, ‘Oh my God, stop! Stop like whispering and tiptoeing around it.’ Just say what it is that you need.”

“You’re allowed to be clear, it doesn’t make you demanding,” she later pressed. “It doesn’t make you difficult, it makes you clear.”