Meghan Markle reflected on how she feels now about leaving her Hollywood career behind for royal life.
The 43-year-old Duchess of Sussex, who made her on-screen debut in a 2002 episode of the soap opera “General Hospital” and rose to fame when she starred in the hit USA Network legal drama “Suits,” confirmed that she would be retiring from acting hours after she announced her engagement to Prince Harry in November 2017. She officially became a member of the royal family when she married Harry in May 2018. In January 2020, they stepped down from their roles as working royals before moving to Canada and eventually settling in Montecito, California.
During a recent appearance on the “Aspire with Emma Grede” podcast, Grede asked Markle if she ever missed her former profession.
“Sometimes, sometimes,” Markle said.
However, she explained that starring in her Netflix lifestyle show “With Love, Meghan” had helped fill the void. “With Love, Meghan” premiered in March and the show will return for a second season in the fall.
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“Actually, having a large team, being back on set with ‘With Love, Meghan’ was great because I realized how much I had missed my crew,” Markle told Grede. “I love being around a crew.”
Markle joined “Suits” in 2011 and was one of the show’s original cast members. She played Rachel Zane, a paralegal who eventually becomes a lawyer, for seven seasons.
While speaking with Grede, Markle recalled how she wasn’t able to say her goodbyes when she left “Suits” due to the need to keep her exit under wraps.
“We couldn’t say I was leaving necessarily. It was speculated,” she said. “So, after seven years on the series, we couldn’t have a going away party. I couldn’t say my goodbyes.”
One day after Markle and Harry’s engagement was announced, the USA Network confirmed her departure from the series. Markle made her final appearance on the show in the seventh season finale in 2018.
Markle reiterated that she still misses the crew she worked with during her time on “Suits.”
“We work with people for seven years,” she said. “For seven years, that’s a really strong connection. And I loved the crew. So I think for me, having the [Netflix] series even though it wasn’t scripted, was really great to get that piece back, but then also building my own business. You have a team, and that’s really what I was craving as well.”
During her interview with Grede, Markle recalled that she struggled to land roles early in her acting career and attributed her difficulties with getting hired to her multiracial heritage.
The actress’s father, Thomas Markle, is White, while her mother, Doria Ragland, is Black.
“When I was an auditioning actress and this was well before ’Suits,’ you have to think at that time there were certainly not a lot of mixed race parts,” Markle told Grede.
“Really?” Grede asked.
“No,” the duchess replied.
“Really?” Grede repeated.
“No, there weren’t a lot,” Markle said.
Markle went on to explain how she believed producers and casting directors were looking for a certain archetype and aesthetic in the early years of her career.
“If I was going in for an audition — you have to remember this was a very different time than it is now. It was ‘girl next door,’” she said.
“That was typically blond-haired, blue-eyed and a certain look,” Markle continued. “But because I’m half White, I would also be submitted for those roles and then if it was a character that had any sort of ethnicity, there was always a bit of an edge to those characters.”
“But I’d be submitted for those roles and I also, to a lot of people in casting, they thought I was Latina,” she added. “So I share that because, and I’ve shared this before, because it was a numbers game.”
“If I’m only up for 10 parts, that could be 10 nos, but if I’m up for 30 parts because I can fit into so many different rooms, that could be 30 nos. That is a lot to chip away at your self-esteem. That is really hard.”
Markle explained the rejection that she faced while trying to make it in the entertainment industry took a toll on her self-confidence.
“I went through my chapter of self-doubt as an auditioning actor and beyond that,” she said. “When you’re so consumed with what everyone around you thinks of you, that can be a really hard way to live.”
The actress shared that after entering her 40s and becoming a mother, it was important to her that she set a positive example for her children and how they are “going to think about themselves.” Markle shares son Prince Archie, 6, and daughter Princess Lilibet, 3, with her husband Prince Harry, 40.
“And that, you can’t have an imposter syndrome around. No way,” she emphasized. “You have to be so authentically the role model and the example of confidence, self-forgiveness, kindness, fun — all of those things and ou can’t fake that.
‘You want to model that for them, so all of that really shifted in the past six years of becoming a mom for me,” Markle added.
After making her TV debut in “General Hospital,” Markle made guest appearances in shows including “The War at Home,” “CSI: NY,” “90210,” “‘Til Death” “Knight Rider,” “Fringe,” “Without a Trace” and “CSI: Miami.”
From 2006 to 2007, Markle appeared as a “briefcase girl” on the game show “Deal or No Deal.”
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The California native also took on small parts in movies including “Horrible Bosses,” “Remember Me” and “Get Him to the Greek” before landing one of the leading roles in “Suits”
Markle appeared on the podcast while promoting her lifestyle brand “As Ever.” The actress launched the brand, which was originally named American Rivera Orchard, in March 2024. She renamed the company “As Ever” in February 2025.
While appearing on the podcast, Markle weighed in on whether her experience with acting helped her in her role in her latest endeavor.
“Do you think that there are any skills that you got from your days as an actress that are transferable into this new entrepreneurial world that you’re in,” Grede asked.
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“Of course,” Markle replied. “I mean, again, having a thick skin. Partnerships and the value of having great relationships when what you when you’re building certainly lots of different SKUs [Stock Keeping Units] is key.”
“And so a piece of advice I was given years ago as an auditioning actress was don’t try to book the part, book the room,” she continued. “Meaning it doesn’t matter if you don’t get that role, you might not be right for it, you might remind the director of an ex-girlfriend that broke his heart.”
‘It could be any number of reasons — it’s not about the part,” Markle added. “You’re going to see those producers and those casting directors at so many other opportunities. Book the room, let them see that you’re talented. Let them see you have something to bring to the table.”
“Treat them with kindness, all of those relationships end up coming to fruition — you don’t know when. But just like with life, relationships matter. So I learned that in the very long road of auditioning, for sure.”
