Meghan Markle has admitted she was a little taken aback when Mariah Carey described her as a “diva” during their recent interview.
On Tuesday, the Duchess of Sussex unveiled the second episode of her podcast Archetypes, in which she and the music legend discussed the many connotations of the word “diva”.
During the conversation, Mariah said that she has been known to play up to her own diva reputation “for laughs”, but also uses it as a “defence mechanism” based on her upbringing.
Meghan said: “I think that’s really important for people to remember that there might be this persona, and yes this diva thing we can play into… I mean, it’s not something I connect to but for you, it’s been a huge part of your…”
“You give us diva moments sometimes, Meghan,” Mariah then playfully interrupted, with Meghan insisting: “I do [not]! What kind of diva moments do I give you?”
“Don’t even act like you [don’t know]… It’s the visual, a lot of it is the visual,” the We Belong Together singer responded, to which the host said: “Oh, it’s the look. See that’s the thing, I associate it differently.”
“I know,” Mariah said, explaining further: “But let’s pretend that you weren’t so beautiful and didn’t have the whole thing and didn’t often have gorgeous ensembles, you wouldn’t maybe get as much ‘diva’ stuff.
“I don’t care! I’m like… when I can, I’m going to give you diva. I wanted to be glamorous, because I felt like an ugly little girl, because I didn’t fit in with anybody. The diva thing evolved, and it continues to evolve, and I play with it! It’s for laughs!”
In a voiceover at the end of the episode, Meghan told her listeners that Mariah’s comment had briefly “stopped me in my tracks”.
“It was all going swimmingly, I mean really well, until that moment happened,” she explained. “I don’t know about you, but it stopped me in my tracks when she called me a diva.
“You couldn’t see me, obviously, but I started to sweat a little bit. I started squirming in my chair in this quiet revolt. Like, ‘wait, what? No. What? Huh? How could you... that’s not true! Why would you say that?’.
“My mind genuinely was just spinning with what nonsense she must have read or clicked on to make her say that.”
She added: “So, [Mariah] must have felt my nervous laughter – and you all would have heard it too. And she jumped right in to make sure I was crystal clear – when she said ‘diva’, she was talking about the way that I dress, the posture, the clothing, the ‘fabulousness’ as she sees it.
“She meant ‘diva’ as a compliment. But I heard it as a dig. I heard it as the word ‘diva’, as I think of it. But in that moment, as she explained to me, she meant it as chic, as aspirational.”
Highlighting what Mariah meant to her growing up, Meghan concluded: “When I was a young teenager I wanted to look, dress, sing, be everything like Mariah Carey. She was so glamorous and fabulous and talented.
“She was successful, and she was mixed race like me. She was an aspirational figure I could see, and you have to see it to believe it, they say. Well, I could see her. And it made me feel like I was also seen. So, though my fan-girling was tempered today, I kind of think she could tell.”
The first episode of Archetypes was released last week, featuring Meghan’s close friend Serena Williams.
It also included an anecdote from Meghan and Prince Harry’s tour of South Africa, in which a fire broke out at the accommodation their son Archie was staying in while on a royal engagement.