Meghan Markle ditched her ‘principles’ to get ahead – and now sneers at women for doing the same, says Ulrika Jonsson

FOR someone who is such a staunch feminist, Meghan Markle seems determined to keep the “blonde bimbo” trope very much alive.

As a blonde myself, you’d expect me to take great exception to that.

Hearing Meghan harping on about how, when she appeared on the US version of Deal Or No Deal as a “briefcase girl”, it reduced her to being a “bimbo” and made her feel she was valued for her beauty and not her brains is all a bit galling.

Strange then that her co-star on the show, Claudia Jordan, refutes Meghan’s version of events and says that was far from the truth.

She claims the girls on the show were chosen for their outgoing personalities.

And we know Meghan has plenty of that — the girl doesn’t stop talking, even if people aren’t interested.

Whatever Meghan wants to argue were the motivations of the show’s producers, these were roles created for whichever woman wanted to step up to the plate and grab the opportunity.

And that’s exactly what it was: an opportunity.

She may not want to admit it, but Meghan clearly saw it as one and was willing to sacrifice her overwhelming cerebral capabilities to be seen on screen and take her chances.

If she’s so smart, clever, wise and savvy, why did she not object at the time to her own perception of what she would be representing and what she would be viewed as?

She didn’t because she had ambition burning a hole in her principles and she was quite willing to use that role as a steppingstone to bigger and better things.

She was quite willing to forgo any of the strongly held fundamentals she had at the time for the sake of furthering her career.

That’s fair enough. Is that not what we do?

We work in the fickle industry of showbiz, which is full of excitement and possibility, and we all grab whatever chance we can in the hope — sometimes vain — of it leading to the next big thing.

When I first started out in TV I worked as a production assistant, often as a “runner” or, as we called ourselves in those days, a gofer — “go for this” and “go for that”.

Basically, a skivvy of sorts. It is someone willing to more or less do anything for anyone who tells us.

It was an opportunity, and I know there isn’t a runner out there today who hasn’t got a big chunk of “hope” tucked firmly in their back pocket, dreaming that their job at the bottom rung of the ladder will ­eventually be a step up.

My first TV job was as a weather girl. I was blonde. There’s every chance some people considered me to be a “blonde bimbo” hired for my looks rather than my brains as I sat on the left of the weatherboard and dutifully waved my arm up and down the UK between 6am and 9am every morning.

I was no meteorologist. I was merely a messenger. Did I have a deep and profound interest in the weather?

No, not really. But I understood that this fantastic opportunity might eventually lead to greater things — if I put the work in.

Besides, what is so terrible about starting out in a job like Meghan’s — holding a suitcase and smiling sweetly to the camera?

Don’t tell me she didn’t know what she was doing — what she was aiming and hoping for.

It’s written right across her determined grin.

Now she is being patronising about her experience in a way that basically boils down to her biting the hand that once fed her.

Plenty of successful women started either as an unrecognised grafter or as a bit of decoration to the side of the screen.

It’s certainly worked out for Amanda Holden, who is not only an outstanding actress but was seen on Blind Date initially and has now moved on to TV presenting.

And what about Holly ­Willoughby? A model turned actress turned award-winning TV presenter. We all do what we can.

Meghan’s constant casting of aspersions, and the endless reminders of her ethical framework and her impeccable moral conscience, are getting a tad ­tiresome.

And I wish she would stop talking as if it’s a feminist issue . . .  saying starting out in a role that isn’t testing your IQ means you’re selling yourself short.

It’s just continuing the damned narrative that women doing these kinds of jobs are lesser for it.

It’s insulting, unfair and insincere. So much for her being a woman’s woman.

Her current “principles” perpetuate the myth that women should feel bad about themselves for embracing opportunity.

In her latest interview, Meghan encourages people to follow the motto that “a high tide raises all ships” — helping others on the way up takes nothing away from you.

Unless they’re female assistants on TV shows. . . 

You may feel ashamed of your own past, Meg. But I’m supremely proud.

Hard to bounce like Ben

LOVELY Ben Shephard – breakfast TV’s brilliant “safe pair of hands” – has been reflecting on his life and career.

He has obviously worked hard and has talked about his ambition to make it in TV but also, perhaps more importantly, about his knockbacks and rejections.

It clearly wasn’t a smooth rise to the top and he was forced to face up to his own personal attitude in the face of adversity.

He says he’s generally an optimistic person and that when things have gone badly, “positivity helps”.

I totally hear him and all the other squillions of people who constantly repeat mantras of staying positive, thinking positive and making positive daily affirmations. It’s fantastic if you can.

But for some of us, when negativity hits, it hits hard – and it’s often hard to see even a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

I have been known to catastrophise some things when life’s not going as I’d hoped or planned.

But fundamentally, the fact remains that you cannot just magic up some positivity out of thin air. Nor does it just grow on trees.

Minds are wired differently and the notion that just plucking a bit of positivity from the tree of hope flies in the face of those who often get bogged down in negativity.

I completely understand what Ben is saying. I just don’t think it applies to most people.

It’s a little like telling a depressed person to try to “cheer up”.

Gemma and Jane were in a tight spot

PICTURES of Gemma Collins having to get her manager to cut her out of her tight trousers after a night out, above, made me titter.

It’s all well and good getting into your clothing – quite another getting out of it when you’re hot and knackered.

It reminded me of those images of 84-year-old Jane Fonda, who wore an LBD to a red carpet event and looked stunning.

Cut to a pic she posted the next day – dishevelled, devoid of make-up, stood in her kitchen, dress still there.

She’d been unable to get the dress off the night before.

The caption simply read: “Never wanted a husband in my life until now.”

I identify. This time last year, after a day’s filming for Celebs Go Dating, I got home at 1am and, try as I might, I could not budge my tight cowboy boots from my hot, swollen feet.

Even my welly boot remover couldn’t shift the footwear.

Before I knew it, it was 1.45am. I had a daughter upstairs but felt waking her to help would be wholly wrong – she had school the next day.

I was on the verge of tears because I was exhausted. In the end, I relented. I went to bed.

Still wearing the cowboy boots. It wasn’t until the next morning that I was able to be parted from my footwear.

Like Fonda, never had I wanted a husband in my life more than I did that night. But I’m over it now.

Good on Zara and Mike

IT’S likely the Royal Family will be shrunk under the reign of King Charles III, a move which is great and long overdue.

There are some royals who simply haven’t been that royal, ever.

Take Zara Tindall. Not only did her mum Princess Anne – one of the hardest-working royals – refuse to give her a royal title, but Zara herself seems to be the most normal, well-adjusted person.

She took up with a rugby player, former England star Mike Tindall, cracked on with her equestrian shenanigans, then went off and had a few kids without caring much about being in the limelight.

She looks as if she actually likes her husband, too – and he her.

Talk is of him going into the TV jungle for I’m A Celebrity, which presumably is about him earning his family some money.

It feels like this is a couple who have managed to build themselves a life alongside their royal connections, without allowing those to rule their lives.

They seem to be content and to have a good understanding of one another and, above all else, about their place in the world.

It’s so refreshing and, while they have only minimal roles in The Firm, I reckon they’re a shining example of what a modern Royal Family could look like.