The Duchess of Sussex has lashed out at claims she is "difficult", saying she is rather "particular".
Meghan Markle was speaking on her Archetypes podcast and appeared to be indirectly addressing bullying claims levelled at her in the UK press.
Speaking to comedian Issa Rae, Meghan discussed "how you're conceived, misconceived or portrayed" in the workplace as a woman of colour.
"I'm particular. I think a high tide raises all ships, right?" she said.
"We're all going to succeed, so let's make sure it's really great because it's a shared success for everybody.
"But I also know that I will find myself cowering and tiptoeing into a room here - I don't know if you ever do that? The thing that I find the most embarrassing, when you're saying a sentence but the intonation goes up, like it's a question.
"And you're like, 'Oh my God, stop! Stop like whispering and tiptoeing around it, just say what it is that you need'.
"You're allowed to set a boundary. You're allowed to be clear, it does not make you demanding, it does not make you difficult, it makes you clear."
Meghan also said there was a disparity in how a woman's actions could be viewed when compared to a man's, which could lead to the labelling of them being difficult.
"Women, how you show up in the workplace, how you're conceived, misconceived or portrayed because even though in that moment you're describing, where this colleagues says 'Yeah, you're particular' you can receive it that way; but if he describes you that way to someone else, they go 'Oh, what does that mean?"
In September, a slew of bullying claims were made about Meghan in a new book.
Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown, written by The Times' royal correspondent Valentine Low, contained jaw-dropping allegations against the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, with royal workers claiming treatment from the pair was so awful they started calling themselves the 'Sussex Survivors Club'.
"There were a lot of broken people," an insider told Low. "Young women were broken by their behaviour."
Back in 2021, Buckingham Palace launched an investigation into bullying claims accusing Meghan of mistreating staff and leaving them "humiliated" and "shaking with fear".
The Palace hired a private law firm to investigate the accusations that stemmed from an article by The Times of London which said a complaint was filed by the couple's then communications secretary New Zealander Jason Knauf, in October 2018.
The findings were not publicly released, but Meghan was exonerated.
