Royals
Meghan Markle Teamed Up With Geena Davis For A New Project About Motherhood
The Duchess of Sussex says she’s implementing her “past experience as an actress, and now today as a producer and mother” on the project.
Meghan Markle is leaning on skills she has learned as an actress, producer, and mother in a new collaboration with Geena Davis. The Archewell Foundation, which she and husband Prince Harry started back in 2021, funded a new study looking at representation of mothers in the media along with nonprofit Moms First and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. And this new project feels like a perfect marriage for the former actress and mom of two.
Vanity Fair reported that Markle and Davis, a fellow actress who has long called out gender misrepresentation in the media, have joined forces to look at the representation of motherhood in the media.
“My past experience as an actress, and now today as a producer and mother, have amplified my belief in the critical importance of supporting women and moms both behind the lens and in front of it,” Markle, who is mom to 4-year-old son Archie and 2-year-old daughter Lilibet, said in a statement to Vanity Fair. “This report about the portrayal of mothers in entertainment highlights the gaps we need to fill to achieve true representation in the content we create and consume, and I’m honored to support this work through the Archewell Foundation.”
Thelma & Louise star Davis praised Markle’s support of the study, which found a disproportionate number of mothers represented in the media were white, thin, and young, telling Vanity Fair, “We love having her support and the support of Archewell. We can’t do it without financial support like that, and it’s obviously a subject that’s very near and dear to her heart.”
Moms First CEO Reshma Saujani also noted that Markle, who is getting ready to launch a new podcast in 2024, had a “line she would say, and I always steal it from her: The most important title I have is mother,” Saujani told Vanity Fair. “The one ask is to show our multidimensionality. Show us both as moms and workers, don’t just show one or the other. Show us as we are: both.”
Markle’s support of a study about representation on television of mothers feels like a natural fit, particularly with her history of challenging gender norms. Even as a young girl, Markle was very aware of the impact the media had on the way women were seen in the world at large. Now that she’s a mother herself, it’s wonderful to see her trying to call attention to the issue for future generations.
