It was on the second episode of Meghan Markle’s podcast Archetype, in which she interviewed her girl crush or queen or whatevs, Mariah Carey, that the moment happened: Markle used the word “diva” of Carey, and Mariah replied that Meghan had her own diva moments. The two women moved past the awkwardness such that a regular listener might not even have logged it, had not Meghan extensively editorialised afterwards: “It stopped me in my tracks, when she called me a diva,” Markle said, with great urgency, you can almost hear her leaning forwards. “I started to sweat a little bit. I started squirming in my chair in this quiet revolt. Why would you say that? My mind was spinning with what nonsense had she read or clicked on that made her think that about me.” OK, so clearly Mariah Carey thinks of the word as positive or neutral, while Meghan Markle thinks it is pejorative.
