Meghan Markle discusses 'humbling Korean spa experience' and criticises Austin Powers in latest Archetypes episode

Meghan Markle has today released her fourth episode of the Archetypes podcast after a month long break following the death of the Queen.

The US actress was joined by journalists Lisa Ling and Comedian Margaret Cho to discuss the 'Dragon lady' stereotype sometimes applied to women of Asian heritage.

In the episode, the Duchess of Sussex recalled visiting a Korean spa as a teenager: 'It's very humbling for a girl going through puberty because you enter a room with women from ages nine to maybe 90, walking around naked and waiting to get a body scrub on one of these tables all lined up in a row. All i wanted was a bathing suit.'

Markle also criticised the films Austin Powers and Kill Bill for presenting 'caricatures of women of Asian descent as often times over sexualised or aggressive'.

Meghan said she was not aware of the stigmas faced by women of Asian descent until many years later. 'The Dragon Lady, the East Asian temptress whose mysterious foreign allure is scripted as both tantalising and deadly,' she told Cho.

'This has seeped into a lot of our entertainment. But this toxic stereotyping of women of Asian descent, it doesn't just end once the credits roll.'

The conversation continues with journalist Lisa Ling saying how when she was a broadcaster at Channel One, she was named hot reporter in the Rolling Stone’s Hot List.

‘Someone at my place of work cut out that article, drew slanted eyes over the eyes and wrote ‘yeah, right’ and then put it back in my mailbox,’ Ms Ling said.

She added: ‘It was like every kernel of excitement that I possessed just withered away.

‘It was so devastating that someone that I would see every day in my place of work where we’re supposed to feel comfortable, just harboured those feelings about me and had the nerve to make it racial.’

The podcast comes as the Sussexes released new portraits of themselves taken by celebrity photographer Misan Harriman, director of the Southbank Centre and a close friend of the couple who has worked with celebrities including Stormzy and Rihanna.

The pair are shown at the One Young World summit in Manchester, where Meghan gave a speech on 'empowerment' to the gathered crowds.

In the second image, taken 'just moments' before the opening ceremony of the summit, the couple are standing next to one each other, side-on to the camera, holding hands and looking out at the audience.