Long before Meghan Markle took the world by storm as the Duchess of Sussex, she was just another aspiring actress chasing dreams in Los Angeles.
The question that arises, though, is whether her acting career had already reached a lull before she met Prince Harry.
Like countless young women in the City of Angels, Meghan sought to carve out her niche in the competitive realm of acting.
Her journey, however, proved to be anything but straightforward.
Despite her education at prestigious schools close to Hollywood and her theater studies at Northwestern University, persistence was required as she navigated a difficult landscape populated by aspiring actors.
In her candid reflections, Meghan disclosed the grueling nature of her early career.
For years, she relied on a dilapidated Ford Explorer that was more battered than reliable, driving from one audition to another.
With her doors frequently jammed, getting into the driver’s seat sometimes required climbing through the trunk – evidence of her financial struggles.
The roles she did land often fell short of her ambitions, relegated to parts that primarily appealed to a male audience.
She appeared as a “briefcase girl” on the game show Deal Or No Deal, and her acting credits included minor cameos in a crime drama and a role labelled simply as “Hot Girl” in an Ashton Kutcher film.
However, hope sparkled on the horizon when she finally secured a significant role as Rachel Zane in the legal drama Suits in 2010, just as her career was at a crossroads.
Suits debuted in 2011 and quickly became a defining element of her career, with Meghan earning a substantial paycheck of $50,000 per episode.
In a blog post from 2015, she fondly recalled the transformative nature of her role, stating, “I remember that day like it was yesterday.”
Yet, as her relationship with Harry blossomed publicly in late 2016, the tides began to turn for Meghan and her character.
Acclaimed biographer Tom Bower disclosed that Suits writer Aaron Korsh had plans to write her out of the show following the 2017 season due to Meghan’s impending royal life.
Bower quoted Meghan’s talent agent as being less than optimistic about her prospects post-Suits, suggesting that roles in Hollywood had started to dry up for her.
Prominent royal biographer Tina Brown also echoed similar sentiments, portraying the landscape that awaited Meghan as she contemplated life after Suits.
The roles she undertook while the show was on air did not suggest a promising future.
She was often limited to clichéd characters, such as a “party girl” in a low-budget romantic comedy, failing to gain critical acclaim.
The struggles continued when, in April 2017, a Palace official advised Meghan to close her lifestyle blog, The Tig, which had been a significant source of her fashion and beauty connections.
In her farewell message, she encouraged followers to recognize their worth, reflecting on the challenges she faced simultaneously balancing her burgeoning royal status with her career ambitions.
Not long after their fateful meeting through a mutual friend at Wimbledon, Meghan and Harry’s relationship prompted changes behind the scenes at Suits.
Korsh admitted he had begun writing Meghan out of the show as a precautionary measure, uncertain about the future of Harry’s romance.
However, while navigating her growing role as a Duchess, Meghan also faced mounting scrutiny from the Palace.
Bower noted that future scripts needed approval from Kensington Palace, placing Meghan and the writers of Suits in a complicated position, constrained by royal interests.
Eventually, this culminated in her last episode, aptly titled “Good-Bye,” where Rachel embarks on a new journey, mirroring Meghan’s own transition into royal life.
Even after leaving Suits, the show maintained its allure, recently resurging in popularity on Netflix.
Meghan expressed her surprise over its unexpected revival and discussed the timeless nature of quality television.
However, as her former co-stars reunite without her, a palpable distance appears to have grown between Meghan and the Suits family.
Now residing in a lavish $14 million home in California, Meghan remains in the public eye, attending high-profile events and mingling with various celebrities.
Yet, her days as an actress are far from over.
She is set to launch her own cooking show, “With Love, Meghan,” destined to showcase her culinary flair without the fear of being written off, unlike her tenure on Suits.
In this new chapter, Meghan is not merely a character on someone else’s script; she writes her own narrative, finding a way to navigate life as both a public figure and a creative individual, firmly rooted in her aspirations.
