Meghan had a sizable supporting role in the low-budget feature Random Encounters, and she immediately clicked with the film’s leading lady, blue-eyed blond Abby Wathen. Both women had wed at around the same time—“starter marriages,” as Ms. Wathen half joked—and both were undergoing splits when Random Encounters was released in 2013. But while Ms. Wathen was a self-described emotional wreck, Meghan was a rock, strong enough for both of them. She refused to let a failed marriage destroy her life.
The success of Suits, as well as Rachel Zane’s character becoming a favorite with viewers, permitted Meghan to call some of the shots in her career for the first time. Or more aptly, to refuse some of them. Speaking on a panel of women at the One Young World Summit in Dublin in 2014, Meghan discussed how she stood up to the producers. “This season, every script seemed to begin with ‘Rachel enters wearing a towel.’ And I said, ‘Nope, not doing it.’ ” She phoned the show’s creators to tell them, “It happened once; we’ve got it. We don’t need to see it again.” Meghan wasn’t just taking a stand for herself. She was doing it for all actresses, pushing back against the perpetual objectification and gratuitous nudity and near nudity that has been expected of women on film for the past several decades.
Rachel became Meghan almost from the start because Meghan was Rachel—the reason she earned the role in the first place. Biracial without explanation or angst. Meghan is a foodie and a feminist. A fashionista and a fitness enthusiast. At her request, her own “foodie-ness” became part of Rachel Zane’s character on Suits. Rachel will discuss the “crumb” of the bread during a dinner date in a restaurant, or the merits of one wine over another, just the way Meghan would. But Meghan doesn’t just appreciate fine cuisine. She is a wine connoisseur and an accomplished chef—with an emphasis on organic healthy cooking.
All those years spent hovering over the craft services tables at the Columbia/Sunset Gower Studios when she was asked to avert her eyes and cover her ears because the Married . . . with Children dialogue was too crude for a schoolgirl paid off. “I can whip up a snack on a whim with almost nothing,” and “I pride myself in figuring out how to elevate a dish with a little preserved lemon, or then a sprinkle of Maldon Salt,” she told Esquire.com.
In an interview, she once described the perfect day’s meals:
Breakfast: A Clean Cleanse vanilla shake blended with frozen Ontario blueberries.
Lunch: A Niçoise salad and glass of rosé, with some Grey Owl goat cheese and a baguette on the side.
Dinner: A leisurely meal of seafood and pasta, and a Negroni to cap off the night.
For special occasions, her favorite cocktails would be a spicy tequila cocktail, a Negroni cocktail, or good Scotch (neat). She then murmured, “God, do I love wine.”
In early 2014, while she was filming her fourth season of Suits, Meghan launched a lifestyle blog, The Tig, which she described as “a hub for the discerning palate—those with a hunger for food, travel, fashion & beauty. I wanted to create a space to share all of these loves, to invite friends to share theirs as well, and to be the breeding ground for ideas and excitement—for an inspired lifestyle.” The website’s name was inspired by Tignanello, a full-bodied red wine that Meghan first tasted in 2007. In wine circles, it’s nicknamed Tig. It was an aha moment for Meghan, who finally understood what oenophiles were talking about when they discussed the structure of a wine, its body, complexity, finish, and “legs.”
The Tig, as a blog, is representative of Meghan getting it—in food, fashion, fitness, travel, and humanitarianism. But The Tig was “also an outlet for me personally,” as Meghan characterized it, a space where she could control her own narrative and where she was able to “combat the smoke and mirrors of retouching and distortion” that were such a prevalent aspect of her life in show business, and where decisions about her physical appearance, particularly in terms of her racial identity, were often out of her hands.
It was therefore a logical fit when, in 2014, a year after her divorce from Trevor, the actress/gourmet began dating an award-winning restaurateur. Cory Vitiello, tall and handsome with a dark scruff of beard, is one of Toronto’s hottest chefs in more than one sense. Vitiello, who started cooking in his parents’ kitchen when he was fifteen, runs a chain of popular rotisserie chicken restaurants aptly named Flock. As their relationship heated up, he moved into Meghan’s Seaton Village townhouse, where she was still residing under the surname Engelson with her two rescue dogs, Bogart and Guy.
In 2015, by then a celebrity in Toronto, thanks to Suits, Meghan starred as herself in a thirty-second commercial for Reitmans (pronounced “Reetmans”), Canada’s largest retailer of women’s apparel. It was an affectionate send-up of celebrity culture, with a dash of slapstick thrown in for good measure.
As though she’s strutting a catwalk—in slow motion with a wind machine whipping her abundant hair—Meghan enters a restaurant that resembles one of the upscale locales where Suits lawyers might woo a well-heeled client. As she sashays toward her table, two blond female diners fangirl over her as if she’s the most famous film star on the planet.
“Oh my gosh, it’s Meghan Markle!” exclaims one of the women, in a stage whisper loud enough to be heard in Calgary.
“So stylish,” says the other.
“I wonder what she’s wearing,” gushes woman number one.
Meghan nonchalantly tosses her hair to reveal the hangtag casually sticking out the back of her silky blouse. The blondes pull out a selfie stick and fall over themselves trying to get a closer look at the tag, to find out who Meghan’s wearing, as the cliché goes.
She turns, catching them in the act, and says, “Ladies, it’s Reitmans.”
The pair of incredulous diners gasp. “Really?”
Letting the viewer in on her fashion secret, Meghan looks straight into the camera and says conspiratorially, “Really.”
She was clearly having a blast.
WITH SUCCESS COMES responsibility. That’s one of the tenets of Meghan’s high school alma mater, Immaculate Heart. But she had always given back to her community and extended a hand to those less fortunate. She didn’t need to be taught it; it was part of her ethos.
Meghan also realized that when she had a profile, it also gave her a platform. And she used it to roll up her sleeves and become involved in global and women’s issues that not only were of personal interest to her but were vital to the planet.
It was in Dublin 2014, as a counsellor at the One Young World Summit, when Meghan called out the Suits producers for their sexism. One Young World is a UK-based charity that gathers the brightest young leaders, ages eighteen to thirty, from around the world, empowering them to make lasting connections that will result in a positive change in the world. The One Young World counsellors are “recognized leaders of integrity from around the world,” who have been selected to inspire the young leaders, people like former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and actress Emma Watson. This summit helped launch Meghan’s activism onto a global stage.
Meghan returned as a counsellor to the 2016 One Young World Summit in Ottawa. Thuli Madonsela, a South African lawyer who met Meghan at the Ottawa summit, was impressed by her dedication and commitment to the cause, as well as by “her personality, compassion, and her brain.” After Meghan confided her own history with discrimination and prejudice, Ms. Madonsela better understood the actress’s personal connection to One Young World and her passion for helping others navigate life’s rocky shoals. “When she had this platform she thought it was her job to make it easier for other young people to discover themselves and lead their fullest life.”
Meghan also became an ambassador for the World Vision Clean Water Campaign, which focuses on providing clean water and sanitation to developing nations. In 2016, writing an essay for The Tig in honor of World Water Day, March 22, Meghan admitted that she used to take long showers or let the water run while she was brushing her teeth without a second thought. From the comfort of
our First World homes, we don’t often think about how people live on the other side of the planet. She addressed the literal trickle-down effect that a lack of clean, potable water has on developing countries.
Outside of Kigali, Rwanda, Meghan met a thirteen-year-old named Florence who couldn’t attend school because she had to spend nearly four hours every day walking to the only viable source of water—which was “riddled with germs and pesticides.” Meghan also met and spoke with Florence’s family. The lack of an immediate water supply robs Florence of her safety. As they walk alone on long dusty roads, Florence and girls like her are vulnerable to violence, kidnapping, and sex trafficking. The lack of access to clean water in her village prevents her from receiving an education, which steals her ability to reach her full potential.
Meghan is passionate about the ripple effect of clean water on a population, from little Florence in far off Kigali to Flint, Michigan. And while she makes a point of the importance of clean water to everyone, her focus is on women’s advocacy, because women and girls are so often marginalized and still viewed as second-class citizens in so many areas of the world. Even in some of the poorest countries, while the little boys go to school, it’s still the little girls who are sent to fetch the water.
Addressing an audience in New York City as part of the AOL Build series, in which celebrities are interviewed about their current projects, Meghan discussed her visits to Rwanda on behalf of World Vision, where she helped build wells so that clean water could be brought directly into the local communities. “Any opportunity to help people who have less than you will change how you move in the world. Without question I think everyone should do it,” she told the AOL audience.
In 2015, Meghan addressed the UN Women’s Conference as a UN Women’s advocate for political participation and leadership. In a simple V-necked black top and pleated skirt, with her dark hair tucked into an elegant bun, she spoke passionately about the time her own call to action came—when she was only twelve years old and was so infuriated by the sexist television commercial that she was moved to write to Procter & Gamble and the first lady of the United States. And they listened!
Her speech focused on women’s equality throughout the world:
Equality means that President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, whose country I recently visited as part of my learning mission with UN Women, . . . is equal to the little girl in the Gihembe refugee camp who is dreaming about being a president one day. Equality means that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is equal to the young intern at the UN who is dreaming about shaking his hand. It means that a wife . . . is equal to her husband; a sister to her brother. Not better, not worse—they are equal. . . .
UN Women . . . has defined the year 2030 as the expiration date for gender inequality. But . . . studies show that at the current rate, the elimination of gender inequality won’t be possible until 2095. . . . Women make up more than half of the world’s population and potential, so it is neither just nor practical for their voices, for our voices, to go unheard at the highest levels of decision-making.
The way that we change that, in my opinion, is to mobilize girls and women to see their value as leaders and to support them in these efforts. . . . Women need a seat at the table, they need an invitation to be seated there, and in some cases, where this is not available, . . . they need to create their own table. We need a global understanding that we cannot implement change effectively without women’s political participation.
It is said that girls with dreams become women with vision. May we empower each other to carry out such vision—because it isn’t enough to simply talk about equality. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to simply believe in it. One must work at it. Let us work at it. Together. Starting now.
When she finished her speech the UN Secretary-General led the standing ovation. And in that moment, Meghan felt: This is the point of it all: to use the status I have as an actress to make a difference in the world.
Meghan has freely acknowledged that if she did not have the high-profile role on Suits and a highly trafficked lifestyle website, she would not have had the humanitarian platform she’d been honored with. As she says, the hand that feeds her enables her hand to feed others. Meghan was also cognizant of the fact that while girls might be checking The Tig for fashion and makeup tips, she could also raise their awareness and social consciousness by including essays about dynamic women, some of whom they might never have heard of before. A motto she frequently posted on The Tig’s banner was Dream Bigger. As busy as she was with her acting and humanitarian work, she still made time for The Tig. “My brain is always going. But . . . because it is all stuff that I am passionate about, it’s easier not to feel exhausted as I squeeze it all in.”
Two years later, on behalf of World Vision, Meghan visited the slums of Mumbai and Delhi. In January 2017, traveling under the radar, she spent a week in India. Her mission: to fight women’s inequality. Meghan toured programs designed to focus on women’s education, economic development, and empowerment. She learned about specific initiatives being undertaken to remove barriers to education for girls, such as building separate washrooms for female pupils and providing bicycles for girls to ride to school so they can avoid the long walks there, when they often face harassment from boys and men along the way.
At the girl empowerment groups Meghan visited, she watched self-defense classes and saw how young women were being taught to speak up for themselves in a culture that has long expected them to behave submissively; and to speak up for other girls if one of their classmates is taken out of school to be married off.
As part of a campaign to erase the shame women feel about menstruation, Meghan toured a clinic to learn more about the challenges that women and girls face when it comes to issues of hygiene and health care. She met with women and girls who have been directly impacted by their country’s stigmatization surrounding menstrual health, and encountered a staggering statistic: 113 million girls between the ages of twelve and fourteen in India alone are at risk of dropping out of school because they are embarrassed to attend class when they have their periods. Without access to sanitary pads, they resort to unhygienic rags instead. They cannot participate in sports activities during their periods, and without bathrooms available for them, they end up quitting school entirely.
Another of Meghan’s takeaways was that because the topic of menstruation is taboo in India, thus far there has been minimal discussion about how to solve the issue of rampant absenteeism from school, as well as the appalling dropout rate for girls. Twenty-three percent of India’s adolescent girls leave school simply because they have no access to sanitary napkins and their own toilets. Enduring a quiet shame, they end up in a perpetual cycle of poverty and inequality. Deprived of an education, they also become at risk for violence and dangerous work environments, and are often forced into childhood marriage.
Meghan’s goal was to learn as much as possible from the women she encountered—those living in the slums of Delhi and Mumbai, and those who were already working to improve their conditions—to see what they needed in order to be able to help them in the future.
On International Women’s Day, March 8, 2017, she wrote an article for Time magazine about women in India and the stigma of their periods.
Now, according to Kensington Palace, Meghan will begin her married life with a fresh slate, which means a focus on different charities, likely those already under the umbrella of the foundation that Prince Harry shares with his brother and the Duchess of Cambridge. Perhaps her causes are viewed by the crown as too “political”; no member of the royal family is permitted to publicly express a political opinion. It remains to be seen whether Meghan can eventually convince the Windsors that her activism for World Vision and her other charities should be enfolded into Harry’s foundation as well. After all, when each partner is an independent adult who already owns a lot of great “stuff” at the time they wed, shouldn’t a healthy marriage be about combining it?
Char
ities Begin at Home
In January 2009, the Queen had permitted both Harry and William to set up their own household within the St. James’s Palace grounds. Their office in Colour Court was viewed as a key step toward their move into the public arena, as well as a separation from their father’s household. The princes had a staff that included a press aide and their own stationery embossed with their personal crests.
Harry’s charities were Sentebale; Dolen Cymru (the Wales/Lesotho connection); MapAction, which helps aid workers pinpoint where assistance is required in natural and humanitarian crises so they can reach those in need; and WellChild, an organization that provides support to ailing children and their caregivers. In order to better understand the daily challenges they face, Harry has often secretly visited ill children in their homes.
That May, to bolster Harry’s bona fides as a working royal, in the midst of an economic downturn his grandmother personally financed the prince’s trip to New York City for a charity polo match on Governors Island—the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic—to raise money for Sentebale. Harry was no spectator: he captained one of the teams. Helming the opposing Black Watch team was the smolderingly handsome Argentine polo superstar Nacho Figueras, recognizable even to non-aficionados of polo as a Ralph Lauren model. Harry’s Sentebale team narrowly defeated the Black Watch, 6–5, with Harry assisting in the winning goal during the final seconds of the match. The glamorous event, attended by A-list celebrities and the cream of New York City society, brought in £100,000 for Sentebale.
While Harry was in New York, he visited Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, the site of the devastating terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, where he planted a tree in the British Memorial Garden. He appeared to be the most popular Brit to visit the city since all four Beatles caused mass female pandemonium in 1964. Women screamed “Marry me, Harry!” and clamored for his autograph. One of them gushed over his “ginger hair” and proclaimed him “cuter than William.”
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