The Duchess of Sussex's short-lived podcast Archetypes had a series of high-profile guests including Serena Williams, Mindy Kaling, Mariah Carey, and Paris Hilton, who tells HELLO! what it was really like to meet and speak alongside the Duchess.
"I loved doing that podcast with her, she was a very smart, lovely person, and I really enjoyed it," Paris said of the opportunity. Archetypes debuted in 2022 and featured Meghan talking with artists, athletes, and experts about the history of stereotypes that are often leveled against women.
"I think that the media can create a character of you – my whole career, my story was always told by other people who didn't really know me – and so I can relate to a lot of women who have to endure that type of treatment from the media," she said.
Paris and Meghan addressed The Simple Life star adopted the character of a "bimbo" and "dumb blonde" during the mid-2000s because it was the persona she was given, and Meghan related the experience to her own time as a host on Deal or No Deal, revealing that she felt "reduced to a bimbo" because of the clothes she wore.
"There was a very cookie-cutter idea of precisely what we should look like. It was solely about beauty — and not necessarily about brains," Meghan said.
"I was thankful for the job, but not for how it made me feel, which was not smart. And by the way, I was surrounded by smart women on that stage with me, but that wasn't the focus of why we were there. 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. I didn't like being 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."
Paris will premiere her new project – Infinite Icon: A Visual Memoir – on January 30, and she tells HELLO! that she sees this "as the third part of my trilogy".
"I started telling my true story in my first documentary, This Is Paris, and then continued going deeper through my memoir, and both of those experiences were truly transformative for me and helped me heal in so many ways," she said.
"Releasing my album last year felt like the culmination of reclaiming my voice and accomplishing something that had been inside of me for so long, and I wanted to tell this part of my story but through the lens of music and in this format."
Paris has worked with the CJ Group "to create this truly immersive experience with wrap-around screens and special effects," allowing audiences to "feel like you're truly in there".
"It means anyone who couldn't make it to my concert in real life will feel like they're at it while watching this film at the theater. I've always loved innovating with new technology, so I just had to make it extra special and innovative," she said.