The Duchess of Sussex has thanked Jameela Jamil for “fighting back” on her behalf after the actress criticised the “demonisation” of Meghan in the media.

Jamil – a friend of Meghan’s – said the duchess had faced an “unfathomable amount of shit” amid the “intense unkindness and bigotry and misogyny” of the press.

The duchess, who stepped down as senior working royal in 2020, was exploring the stereotypes and judgments women encounter in the world of activism in the latest episode of her Archetypes podcast.

She told Jamil, “Well, thank you for fighting back”, after the She-Hulk star expressed her concern over Meghan’s experience.

Jamil, who has been an outspoken supporter of the duchess, said: “It’s an unfathomable amount of shit that you take, Meghan. I can’t believe it.

“I fought back on your behalf years before I’d ever met you because I was so outraged by it. I was so outraged with the twisting of this very normal, very kind, very civilised woman.

“That demonisation just shows how afraid they are of you and I’m sure – maybe you can’t keep this in or whatever – but the treatment of you, and I’m so sorry you’ve had to withstand it, it has re-highlighted for us the intense unkindness and bigotry and misogyny of our media.

“And I think and I hope and I feel faith that the tides are changing because so many of us are fighting back.”

Jamil, who starred in hit series The Good Place, also revealed on the Spotify podcast that Meghan often privately contacts women who are having a “very, very hard time” to offer support during their “most lonely and desperate moments”.

She added: “I also just want to thank you, in a way that you know I probably didn’t get to at the time, but during some of my hardest moments where I’m being the most maligned and harmed by the media, and also by the public, you have been such a sobering voice of unwavering support to me.

“And people don’t know that you frequently reach out to women who are having a very, very hard time. Privately, you reach out to us.

“You don’t do it publicly. You don’t come to get any glory, but you privately reach out to us in our most lonely and desperate moments.

“We need more of that in the world. and so I just appreciate you and thank you for that because those are some hairy moments, and I needed that guidance. So thanks, thanks mate.”

Meghan replied: “Yes, absolutely.”

The episode is entitled The Audacity of the Activist and features conversations with Jamil and Iranian-American actress Shohreh Aghdashloo.

Meghan said she had started to notice an “almost default eye roll” when people mention a woman fighting for a cause.

She added: “Almost, ‘Oh, here she goes again’. Or maybe it was more of ‘Stand for something? Why can’t she just sit down and…’ You know the rest.”