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After researching her roots, Meghan Markle shared on her podcast that she’s got a substantial amount of Nigerian heritage.
“I just had my genealogy done a couple of years ago. [I’m] 43% Nigerian,” Markle revealed on episode 7 of her podcast, Archetypes.
“I’m going to start to dig deeper into all this because anybody that I’ve told, especially Nigerian women, are like ‘What?!'” the Duchess of Sussex added, speaking about exploring what tribe she may be from.
The podcast’s latest episode, titled “Upending the ‘Angry Black Woman Myth,'” tackles understanding why Black women are often labeled angry.
Hollywood multi-hyphenate Issa Rae, Nigerian-American writer, comedian and TV host Ziwe Fumudoh, and university professor Emily Bernards all guest-starred on Tuesday’s episode.
Markle, Fumudoh, and Rae discuss racism and the “Angry Black woman” trope.
Markle, who resigned from her royal duties in 2020, has been open about the racism, discrimination and hypercritical judgments made about her as a Black woman married to Prince Harry.
Fumudoh discussed how “horrible” it makes her feel when interviewers tell her they’re nervous about questioning her due to her sharp personality on her talk show Ziwe.
“Usually when I’m talking to an interviewer, the first thing that they say to me is ‘I’m terrified of you,'” Furmudoh told Markle. “And I’m like, ‘Oh my god, that hurts my feelings.’ I’m a sensitive Pisces, I don’t want you to be scared of me. That’s not my goal.”
The TV host explained that the Ziwe people see on her show is a character she created who plays into some archetypes.
“That’s why I wear pink,” Fumudoh said about her appearance. “That’s why my character is so hyper-feminine. It’s because it sort of codifies the message of the show, I think. It’s like Barbie packaging and then you bite into the sandwich and it’s barbwire.”
“I think she fundamentally plays into archetypes,” she added of her hosting persona. “So, to be the character of Ziwe, that is brash and rude and thoughtful, is in direct opposition to what a woman should be publicly, according to sexism.”
Rae also shared her two cents on labels women combat in the industry and life.
“I never seek out being a b–ch, that’s not an aspirational thing for me,” the actress explained. “I take the fear of being labeled as that when I want to convey my point of view, when I want to express my disappointment in something. When I want things to be better. Like, I take away the fear of being labeled as such. I shouldn’t have to fear that if I want something to be great.”
Read more about Markle’s Archetypes podcast down below.
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