Howie Mandel Defends Meghan Markle's 'Deal Or No Deal' Comments: She's 'Not Complaining'

After Meghan Markle shared that she felt objectified while working on Deal or No Deal, host Howie Mandel is defending the royal.

“I get it because — I’ve never said this before — but they had this pyramid of 26 beautiful, intelligent women standing there just staring at me like I was a piece of meat,” he told Us Weekly. “I was in the center, just dressed up in a suit and I felt like I am more than this. And they would just look at me and I had to do nothing.”

“I get it. I felt like nothing,” he continued. “And that’s why I’ve moved on and become a judge on America’s Got Talent. I just needed more than to be a Deal or No Deal host. I don’t think she’s maligning Deal or No Deal. I don’t think there weren’t ever [any] complaints from any of the women. And unlike most shows up until that point, the ladies had more to do. They weren’t just pointing out gifts and opening [cases], a lot of times they were mic’d and they had their input.”

As The Royal Observer previously reported, Meghan got candid with her fans about time on the talk show.

“I ended up quitting the show. I was so much more than what was being objectified on the stage,” she said on her podcast, "Archetypes." “I didn’t like feeling 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: the word ‘bimbo.'”

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As a result, the Duchess of Sussex, 41, upset people.

“This negative backlash is extremely disappointing to Meghan, but she’s learned a long time ago not to get too cut up or demotivated by those who wish to dwell in negativity, especially over something so trivial as a job she left many years ago,” an insider told Us Weekly. “She knows that there are certain critics who will go to great lengths to stir the pot and call her out as a hypocrite in any way possible."

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