Meghan is going to be in the Ellen show talking about her struggles as an actress, among other
topics (I guess!)
But I couldn't wait until tomorrow, so I took a good look at the interview's teaser... and
here's what I found.
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What's so interesting about this interview is that it includes two women that have been
accused of bullying in the past.
So it's a great opportunity to watch how those egos play with one another.
The very first thing that I noticed was Meghan's facial expressions.
It's not very common to see her talking this way, trying to be joyful and engaging with
Ellen.
And the easiest way to spot, that there's something different here, than other interviews,
is her brow.
She did an interview a couple weeks ago where she was also talking, engaging with the interviewer,
and more or less with the same happy attitude.
But watch this clip and try to spot the difference on her face.
As you can see, she's smiling and talking at the same time, and she's pointing with
her face to the other person.
She's looking for that nonverbal feedback.
But what I found really strange was the way she really pushes her inner brows when talking
to Ellen, something that didn't happen in the other interview.
Now, if you've been following my episodes, you might remember that raising and pushing
your eyebrows together has a lot to do with sadness, and it's not something that you can
do on purpose unless you're an actor... or an actress.
So, given that Meghan can actually show wrinkles on her forehead, for one tells us that she
is not using botox.
But why does it happen in one instance, and not in the other?
Because I think she's trying to convey some kind of sadness in this story.
The story that she's telling Ellen.
By the way, what's wrong with Ellen's smile?
Well, it looks like Ellen is really, really trying to smile, while she's listening to
Meghan tell her story... but a few seconds in, she gives up.
Yeah, that grin.
That grin means 'please, kill me now, I cannot stand this much longer.'
And Meghan's story is important.
And there is a very good reason why she is talking about her struggles as an actress.
If Meghan and Harry are in the Impact Business... you know, a glorified influencer business...
If Meghan and Harry are paid to be 'impactful' they need to be relatable.
Because you need people to identify with you in one way or another.
And most people find it hard to empathize with someone that's usually wearing half a
million dollars in jewelry and clothing.
That's what the 'struggling actress' story is for.
So that's why she talks about this old Ford Explorer, that the key stopped working on
the driver door, so she had to climb in and out through the trunk.
But... wait a minute... why didn't she get in through the passenger seat?
Well, maybe the key just stopped working altogether.
But again... how did she open the trunk?
I guess We'll have to wait until Piers Morgan interviews her so he can ask these pressing
questions.
But what's relevant here is that the teaser of the interview is focused on the anectote
of she having a broken car.
And any teaser, for any kind of show, always sets the tone for what are you going to see
in the full thing.
Now, I'm sure Meghan is going to please us with other motivating life stories but this,
'struggling' narrative is done on purpose.
That's because she wants to be perceived as 'normal', relatable, and that's one of the
reasons she's wearing white.
To project purity, being naive, innocent.
I must say that this blouse looks really good on her, especially the Ricky Ricardo sleeves.
Wonderful.
If we loop this clip back and forth, it's like she's playing the 'maracas'.
But going back to her body language, you don't usually see Meghan using this kind of gestures,
in the sense that she's moving her hands in a small space...
I know that she's trying to explain all the broken car stuff, but you can clearly see
that she is hunching.
That's not her usual body language baseline.
She's much more used to more ample gestures, and having a mmore straight posture.
As you begin to stack all these nonverbal signals you notice that yes, she's pushing
to be perceived as... a commoner, and not as a Duchess.
Well, that's new.
That's why she goes for a rather plain hairstyle, low contrast makeup... but the biggest giveaway
is she laughing that much.
I mean, have you ever heard Meghan Markle laughing?
Well, here's your chance:
I'll let you a couple seconds to recover.
Every time we see two people interacting, there is a good chance that you're going to
spot crossed body language signals.
Just like one talks first, and then the other answers, exactly the same happens with our
bodies.
And you can imagine that with these two... celebrities, whose reputations speak volumes
for them, you can imagine that below that perceived communication, there is going to
be some struggle to have the protagonism.
It's a personality, or an Ego thing, if you want to put it like that.
And there was one moment at least, one moment in this very short teaser when Meghan pauses
her broken car story, and... this happens:
Yeah, those look a lot like pacifying gestures.
The first one from Meghan, doing that hair parting with both hands, and what is most
relevant about this gesture is that when she does it, she covers her face.
That gesture has a couple meanings, like you don't want people to notice your facial emotions,
you want to hide for a second, you feel a bit insecure, because there is absolutely
no need to use both hands OVER YOUR FACE to adjust your hair.
But what's even more interesting is that at that very moment, Ellen also does another
pacifying gesture, using her thumb and looking away.
It's a very different gesture, but it shares one of the meanings; to have an excuse to
break eye contact.
And the excuse part is important, because you could say, "Well, it would be odd if they
had their eyes locked all the time".
And I agree; on a conversation is normal to rest your eyes from time to time.
But what it's not normal is to need an excuse, in this case HAND gestures to do it.
It's like at the same time that they are casually chatting, their egos are engaged in a covert
stare contest.
And they need some sort of excuse to break that lock at that moment.
Again, you don't need any hand gesture to just look away.
Now, Ellen is going off the air, this is her last season and she's going to try new grounds,
so this seems like an opportunity for Meghan to reach her current audience, even if it
has been declining over the years.
Because all these interactions have only one goal in common.
Exposure.
And as I mentioned earlier, Meghan needs as much exposure as she can because her current
job is staying relevant.
Pretty much like Chrissy Teigen.
And I'm really, really looking forward to see if Ellen will dare to be mean or rude
to Meghan, like she has been with so many of her guests so many times.
All my chips are on "she won't dare".
As soon as the full show goes live, you know that I'll be there to... get down to it!
If you want to refine your observation and analysis skills, don't forget to download
my 100+ body language tips right in the description of this video.
My name is Jesús Enrique Rosas and I'll see you soon, my body language buddies!