The Most Shady, Shocking, And Scandalous Secrets About Meghan Markle

An old friend of Meghan’s, Ninaki Priddy, branded her as “calculated” in the way she handles people and relationships. She also revealed Meghan always dreamt of being famous, recalling, “she just loved to be the center of attention.”

It was revealed last minute that Markle’s dad would not be attending her Royal wedding. Confirming the news, she said, “Sadly, my father will not be attending our wedding. I have always cared for my father and hope he can be given the space he needs to focus on his health.” Meanwhile, her reaction behind closed doors was much less matter-of-fact. Apparently, the shocking news of his absence “reduced both Meghan and Harry to tears.”

Markle’s dad staged his own paparazzi shots days before the wedding. Despite many requests for photographers to stay away from Thomas Markle, he apparently worked with members of paparazzi to stage photos showing him preparing for his daughter’s Royal wedding. It was alleged that he made a healthy profit from this too. While there was much speculation on this, it was reported Thomas decided not to attend the nuptials to avoid embarrassing the Royal family. Only days later, he changed his mind.

According to Meghan’s sister, Samantha, Meghan is not paying enough attention to her father. After making numerous attempts to speak to Meghan about the health of their 74-year-old dad, Kensington Palace refused to respond. Unsure whether Meghan was even aware of this, her publicist took to Twitter as the “only option we have left.” He claimed, “This DOESN’T need to be public, we would prefer to keep this private. Samantha is coming to the UK this week, like it or not.”

Meghan has allegedly hidden her half-sister’s disability. Samantha, who was diagnosed with MS back in 2008 and is in a wheelchair, believes her sister has avoided speaking about it publicly. She has even spoken out that Meghan has abandoned the family. In addition, she said that the two sisters have not been close, especially since her diagnosis. Born 17 years apart to different mothers, the two did not have much of a relationship, and despite Samantha’s claims, we doubt this is due to her disability.

While Samantha’s outbursts are not much of a concern to Meghan, a source revealed she was truly devastated by her brother Thomas’ comments when he said, “She’s capable of doing anything, she’s just got to want to do it. If she wants to make amends, by all means, she can do that.” However, Meghan finds it hard to trust her dad. A source explained, “She lives in fear that he’ll leak their communication. If he’s spoken this much already, why wouldn’t he leak their conversation?”

Meghan’s older half-brother is certainly not royal family material. Just like his father, he is on his second divorce and similarly declared his own bankruptcy in 2013. However, the real topper is that Thomas Markle Jr. was taken into custody after allegedly holding a weapon to his girlfriend’s head. He was charged with unlawful use of a dangerous weapon, menacing, and domestic violence. This does not sound like ideal behavior for a brother-in-law of Prince Harry.

When Markle revealed to her co-stars that she was dating Prince Harry, you can only imagine the excitement and delight. But one star, Rick Hoffman, decided to look out for his friend and colleague. “And then I was just like take it slow, be careful, don’t let him hurt you,” he warned the Royal-to-be. Despite their incredible shock, they all hoped nothing but the best for Meghan. This came after she told them all excitedly that the prince was “great.” Maybe they were just worried based on Harry’s past mischievous ways?

One of the biggest controversies in Harry and Meghan’s engagement was the fact she was previously divorced. Before meeting Harry, Meghan was married to producer Trevor Engelson for two years. They split citing “irreconcilable differences.” Meanwhile, a former friend of Meghan, Ninaki Priddy, revealed her career ultimately led to their splitting. Another source said the stress of a long-distance relationship likely played a part, as Meghan lived in Canada filming Suits and her husband was in Los Angeles.

Before becoming a Royal, Meghan made an appearance as the case model on Deal or No Deal, hosted by Howie Mandel. Meghan was one of those beautiful women who would open cases to reveal a winning amount. Her time on the show lasted from 2006 to 2007 and she once said in an interview that the only reason she did the show was to make ends meet. “Definitely working on Deal or No Deal was a learning experience, and it helped me to understand what I would rather be doing,” she said.

While we can imagine the Queen wasn’t very pleased about this, back in 2013, Meghan Markle took part in a seductive photo shoot for the Canadian magazine, Sharp. Of course, becoming a Royal means anything and everything from your past can creep up to haunt you, and if it’s on the internet there is no hiding. Although some outfits are sheer and revealing, she is fortunately not naked in any of the pictures, much to the Royals’ delight.

After turning up to Kensington Palace unannounced, Samantha was overcome with online abuse. However, she hit back in support of her shared father with Meghan saying that the “Duchess should bow to the daddy.” Accusing her half-sister of giving “fake waves and smiles,” and not giving time to “the one who was always there for her,” Samantha simply wanted Meghan to reach out to her father so he could know she is well, happy, and to touch base.

Samantha has denied claims that her tweets are “slams” against her sister. Instead, she states that she wrote “honest, open, most diplomatic opinions.” However, to many, it is not obvious how calling Meghan “arrogant and ignorant” or suggesting “Harry is a ‘wuss’ to allow the Duchess of Nonsense to mistreat everyone who has been close to her, especially her family,” is not a dig. While many are disgraced by Samantha’s outbursts towards the Duchess, it makes us question whether there is another side to Meghan.

Interestingly, Meghan is not the real name of Prince Harry’s Hollywood wife. She was born as Rachel Meghan Markle, the same name as her character on Suits. It is not known when or why Meghan decided to drop Rachel, but all of her acting credits are under Meghan Markle. Perhaps, like some of her former acquaintances have mentioned, she had always aspired to get to where she is today and Meghan was more suited for a Royal title.

Although she became part of British history when marrying Prince Harry, Meghan also needed to know it inside out before she became a citizen of the UK. As Prince Harry’s communication secretary Jason Knauf said, the Duchess of Sussex will go through the process of becoming a British citizen “properly and officially.” This means Meghan will have to take the ‘Life in the UK’ test. The test costs £50 and is compiled with roughly 3,000 facts. She has to answer 18 out of 24 questions correctly. Good luck, Meghan!

After meeting at a charity football game in 2014, Meghan and tennis star Serena Williams became great friends. After beginning to date the Prince and being bombarded by paparazzi and press, her friend gave her some friendly advice, “I told her, ‘You’ve got to be who you are, Meghan. You can’t hide,’” Williams said. Meghan’s best friend, however, is said to be fashion stylist Jessica Mulroney. The girls became close after Meghan moved to Canada to film Suits and her three children even served as bridal attendants at the wedding.

Revealing in an interview they were set up by a mutual friend, Markle claimed she knew who Harry was but not much about him or his family. She asked her friend if he was a good guy, “[I] didn’t know much about him–I just asked, ‘Is he nice?’ Because if he wasn’t kind I didn’t really see there was any point,” the actress shared. Meanwhile, ex-friend begs to differ, “I know the Royal Family was something she found fascinating,” said Priddy, “She had one of Princess Diana’s books on her bookshelf.”

Meghan is a sucker for breaking Royal rules. Whether it is due to ignorance or she wants to break the traditional mold, she has created much controversy. When appearing with Harry at Kensington Palace following the news of their engagement, Meghan committed a Royal fashion no-no. Rather than wearing pantyhose with her dress, she appeared in the public eye bare-legged, something the Royals do not do. While her sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, has caught on well, Meghan has some way to go.

When Meghan met Prince Harry, she had two rescue dogs, Guy and Bogart. However, when things began to get serious and she moved to London, she only brought one dog, Guy, with her. Bogart remained in Canada with unnamed friends, given his age. A spokesperson revealed, “It’s in the best interest of the animal’s well-being to stay.” In December 2017, it was reported that Guy broke two legs. Meghan was apparently “distraught,” although circumstances surrounding the injury are unknown.

Meghan has been referred to by her estranged half-sister as a “social climber.” Allegedly, since the fame and fortune, Meghan chose to distance herself from her family (or at least tried to). Her sister, Samantha Grant, believed that Meghan tactfully made her way to become a princess, rather than it being due to romance. “Hollywood has changed her. I think her ambition is to become a princess,” said Grant when Markle and Prince Harry started dating. But can her sister be trusted?

No one in the Markle family seems to get along. Both half-sister, Samantha, and half-brother, Thomas Jr., have made allegations in the public media that the other sibling has been cut out of the family. Furthermore, despite Prince Harry making a comment that the Royals are like the family she never had, one family member suggested this was not the case. “She’s had a really good family,” said Thomas Markle Jr, “We were as close as we could be, as tight as we could be, that’s what we were.”

It has been said that Meghan was actually in a relationship with another man when she went on her first date with Prince Harry. From 2014 to 2016, Meghan was dating Canadian chef Cory Vitiello and they became serious, even living in a townhouse together. Meanwhile, we know Meghan met Harry in 2016, potentially causing their sudden breakup in May that year. So was Harry the cause of the end of Vitiello and Meghan, or was it something else? When questioned, he reported, “I can’t comment on that.”

Although her brother’s run-in with the law was for other reasons, Thomas Jr. also seems to suffer from problems relating to substance abuse too. His sister, Samantha, very publically accused him of being an addict via Twitter. She used this as a way to discredit anything Thomas Jr. had said about Meghan or their father in the media. However, he was not the only Markle to dabble in these substances. Meghan’s father also admitted to taking substances while raising his daughter.

Addiction and substance abuse is not the only thing that runs in the Markle family. While it still remains rather rare to see a divorce in the royal family, the Markles are no strangers to it. Thomas Markle started the pattern after divorcing twice. This was then followed by his son, Thomas Markle Jr., who has been divorced twice too. Samantha then followed in their footsteps and also divorced twice. As we know, Meghan is a one-time divorcee – let’s hope the family curse won’t strike again.

Once a successful lighting director, Meghan’s dad used to work on shows such as General Hospital and Married With Children. But while his daughter may be living the life as a Royal, her dad is far from this. In 2016, Thomas Markle filed for bankruptcy with very little in his account, credit card debts, and unpaid tax debts for almost two decades. While his salary may not have been on the top end of the spectrum, his possible struggles started after his divorce from Doria, Meghan’s mom.

Not many know, but Prince Harry and Meghan are strangely related! Yep, you heard right! While we shouldn’t go too crazy, as we all share the odd gene here and there, Meghan and Harry have proved it. In October 2017 the couple performed a “genealogical investigation” revealing that they are cousins dating back to the 15th century. The pair is related through High Sheriff of County Durham Ralph Bowes, whose grandson Christopher Hussey moved to America in 1632. Therefore, they are actually 17th cousins!

In March of 2021, Meghan and Harry sat down with Oprah in a tell-all interview. During this time, many details were revealed about what went on with the royal family behind closed doors. Now, while the media love to pin Markle and Kate Middleton against each other, that’s not the case in reality. Tabloids claimed that Meghan had made Kate cry a few hours before she was set to wed Prince Harry.

Well, it turns out that you shouldn’t believe everything you read or hear. While there were tears shed on Meghan and Harry’s big day, they weren’t coming from the Duchess of Cambridge. In actuality, the opposite had actually happened, with Kate leaving Markle in hysterics. Even so, the two ladies resolved their tiff and Meghan set the record straight. According to the Duchess of Sussex herself, “she [Kate] owned it, and she apologized, and she brought me flowers and a note apologizing and she did what I would do if I knew that I hurt someone.”

Just days before CBS was set to air Oprah’s interview with Meghan and Harry, The Times of London published a report claiming that the Duchess of Sussex bullied her staff at Kensington Palace during her time as a royal member. Now, this is a little hard to believe considering that Meghan has been “the target of bullying herself and is deeply committed to supporting those who have experienced pain and trauma.” Markle’s spokesman also called the report a “smear campaign.” After all, the world had been anxiously waiting for the interview to drop, so perhaps the monarch wanted to ruffle some feathers in the process.

In January of 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan announced via Instagram that they jointly decided to “step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family,” and that they’d be splitting their time between the United Kingdom and North America. Naturally, this post had the whole world in shock. But despite popular belief, Her Majesty The Queen wasn’t blindsided by this decision, as was reported. According to their interview with Oprah, Harry and Meghan had thoroughly discussed this move with the royal family for two years before announcing it to the rest of the world.

Now, in their post, Harry and Meghan claimed that they were stepping down to become financially independent. Since the Oprah interview aired, though, it’s clear that there were other things that contributed to the decision as well. As is with any tell-all interview, many personal details were shared. Meghan revealed that she had been struggling with her mental health and how she had been suffering. Unfortunately, she and Harry weren’t getting the help they needed and so, they needed to make a change. According to the couple, they wouldn’t have stepped down had it not been for “lack of support.”

After Archie’s birth in May 2019, it was announced that his parents — Prince Harry and Meghan Markle — had chosen not to give their little one a royal title. During the Oprah interview, however, Meghan didn’t hold back in telling the truth. In fact, it wasn’t even the parents’ choice as to whether or not the baby would be getting a royal title. “While I was pregnant,” she told Oprah, “the royal family said they want to change the convention for Archie.”

Now, as if it weren’t enough that the monarch chose not to give Archie a title, we also learned another shocking detail during this interview. After Harry and Meghan stepped down from the royal duties, the monarch decided to take away any and all security protection from the family. Meghan pleaded with the institution — she had already accepted the fact that neither she nor Archie would receive protection, but she didn’t understand why they would take Harry’s security away.

Although Harry and Meghan had made the decision to step down, they were hardly expecting to be pushed away by the royal family altogether. Not only had they taken away the couple’s security but they also cut them off financially. Unsure of what to do, Harry and Meghan turned to friend and US entertainment mogul Tyler Perry for help. The 51-year-old provided Harry and Meghan with a home and security in California during 2020.