Meghan Markle has taken a thinly-veiled swipe at those who branded her "difficult" in the latest episode of her Spotify podcast.
In this week's episode of Archetypes, Meghan "explores the origin and plague of 'the B-word' and its cousin 'difficult' and how these terms are often wrongly applied to a strong minded woman".
Reports from when Meghan and husband Prince Harry were still working members of the Royal Family suggested that she had been given the label of "Duchess Difficult".
It came following claims that the former Suits actress would fire off emails in the early morning hours and make "huge demands" of her staff.
And in the latest episode of Archetypes, Meghan examines why women are sometimes branded a b**** and says: "What these people are implying when they use that very charged word, is that this woman, 'Oh, she's difficult'.
"Which is really just a euphemism or is probably not even a euphemism., it's really a code word for the B-word.
She continues later in the podcast: "So, perhaps the truth is that labelling a woman as the B-word or as difficult is often a deflection.
"A way to hide some of her really awesome qualities, her persistence, her strength, her perseverance, her strong opinion, maybe even her resilience and those are the very qualities we are going to be uncovering today.
She added: "Okay, so calling someone the B-word labelling them as difficult, it's often a way to insult and dismiss someone.
"I was talking to a good girlfriend of mine this past weekend and when I saw her, she said something I had never heard before and she said, 'well, isn't that a convenient villain, an assertive woman in a position of power, being called the b word' 'How very convenient'.
"But that's what happens when we label someone, a woman especially one of these words, it becomes a way to take their power away, keep them in their place.
"A lot of times it's tied to the very women who have power and agency."
Meanwhile near the end of the episode, in which she chats to businesswomen Mellody Hobson and Victoria Jackson, she also says: "I was just chatting with my girlfriend's recently and I was asking them for the show, what a sort of archetypes, you think we should discuss and almost immediately unequivocally they all jump to difficult.
"That's the word you have to talk about difficult.
"They said it gets thrown around so casually now and as a woman, my friend said to me, there's a certain point when you come to terms with the fact that not everyone is going to like you.
"The goal can't be for everyone to like you but the goal can be for them to respect you."
Meghan and husband Prince Harry signed a lucrative deal with the audio streaming giant Spotify to host and produce podcasts, estimated to be worth around £18 million, in late 2020.
Archetypes was launched with the aim of investigating "labels that try to hold women back" through conversations between Meghan and historians, experts and women who have experienced being typecast.
Other guests on her podcast have included Paris Hilton, Serena Williams, Mariah Carey and Mindy Kaling.
