Overview

• On India Hicks’s podcast, Shields said she interrupted Meghan Markle’s detailed response to a gender equality question at SXSW because she feared the audience would lose interest in such a “precious” account.
• She joked that at age 11 she was playing a prostitute in Louis Malle’s Pretty Baby, a quip that drew laughter and lightened the panel’s mood.
• At the March 2024 International Women’s Day discussion led by Katie Couric, Markle described how her letter to Procter & Gamble at age 11 over a sexist Ivory soap slogan ignited her lifelong advocacy for gender equality.
• Markle also recounted enduring intense social media bullying during her pregnancies and praised her husband Prince Harry as a “hands-on” father whose support helped her navigate new motherhood.
• In comments to The Times, Shields warned that post-#MeToo caution risks censoring artistic work and defended her early film roles as culturally significant despite evolving sensitivities.