Here’s Part 2 of our coverage of the Duchess of Sussex’s Variety cover profile. Again, this cover story was originally supposed to come out in mid-September. Variety postponed it and instead of reworking their existing interview, Meghan agreed to simply give a new interview following the death of QEII. Part 2 of our coverage is basically the second half of the Variety interview, where Meghan is talking about the work of Archewell, her work on Archetypes, the Sussexes’ plans for the future and more. Meghan once again confirms the Netflix docu-series and talks a lot about Archetypes.
What we can expect from Liz Garbus’ docuseries: “It’s nice to be able to trust someone with our story — a seasoned director whose work I’ve long admired — even if it means it may not be the way we would have told it. But that’s not why we’re telling it. We’re trusting our story to someone else, and that means it will go through their lens. It’s interesting. My husband has never worked in this industry before. For me, having worked on “Suits,” it’s so amazing to be around so much creative energy and to see how people work together and share their own points of view. That’s been really fun.
On Archetypes: “I think that what happens, looking in from the outside, when there is this much noise, is that you become dehumanized. But if you remember that someone is a human being, then you don’t treat them, talk about them, look at them the same way. My hope for “Archetypes” is that people come out thinking, “Oh! She’s a real person! She laughs and asks questions and approaches things with curiosity.”
Her most challenging interview: “I spoke to Paris Hilton last week. I told her at the beginning that I was the most nervous about her interview. I was embarrassed to admit it, but I’ve had a judgment about her that’s based on everything I’ve seen, and I don’t like to come from a place of judgment. But I also didn’t grow up pretty…I grew up as the smart one. So much of what I ended up thinking about, when I thought about Paris, was envy and judgment — two of the most dangerous things. But then you hear about her trauma and her life and her buying into this persona. Ultimately, I told her, “I’m really sorry that I judged you.” I wanted her to be safe and comfortable. I told her I wasn’t looking for a “gotcha” moment. I want a “got you” moment, where we get you.
How Hollywood has shifted: “The industry has shifted quite a bit since I was a part of it. I left “Suits” right after the 100th episode, in 2018. I didn’t think I’d ever be in the entertainment industry again. But the entire culture has changed; streamers have changed things. The ability to create zeitgeist moments like we had in the ’90s — where everyone would tune in at the same time for a show or gather for one moment? — that doesn’t happen anymore. When I was doing “Suits,” that character, Rachel Zane, was in your living room with you while you were in your pajamas eating Chinese takeout. That’s how connected the experience felt then. But to create a cultural moment or conversation requires something different today. Podcasting has been really interesting in that way. It might be one of the only remaining forums where people are alone to listen. Where else do you have that opportunity?
On #MeToo and #OscarsSoWhite: “We didn’t have a name for it at that time. There were just certain things that were accepted. If there was any discomfort, you just dealt with it. It forced a lot of women to live with this idea of staying silent, not being disruptive, not giving voice to the things that might create concern or discomfort. For me, I had tried for so long to land on a show, filming all these pilots, wondering if they would get picked up. All of Season 1 on “Suits,” I was convinced I was going to get recast. All the time. It got to a point where the creator was like, “Why are you so worried about this?”
Whether she would go back to acting: “No. I’m done. I guess never say never, but my intention is to absolutely not.
The ideal project for Archewell: “So much of how my husband and I see things is through our love story. I think that’s what people around the world connected to, especially with our wedding. People love love. I’m not excluded in that sentiment. And our definition of love is really expansive: Partner love, self-love, the love of community and family. We use that as the baseline of the kind of shows and documentaries we want out there. For my husband, the Invictus Games have been such a huge piece of his life and his work, having been in the army for 10 years and working for the rehabilitation of wounded vets and their families. We talk about emotional injuries that come from those types of experiences. Those are love stories. For scripted, we want to think about how we can evolve from that same space and do something fun! It doesn’t always have to be so serious. Like a good rom-com. Don’t we miss them? I miss them so much. I’ve probably watched “When Harry Met Sally” a million times. And all the Julia Roberts rom-coms. We need to see those again.
An average workday for Meg & Harry: “We share an office. We work from home, as most people started to do during lockdown. It allows us to have significant time with our kids at this really special moment in their lives. We’ll never get this time back. I make breakfast, and we get the kids set for the day. We do a lot of joint calls and Zooms, but also try to divide what we can focus our energies on so we can accomplish even more. My husband is on a 24-hour time zone, where half of your life is waking up as the other half is going to sleep. It’s kind of the reverse of what I went through living in the U.K. He’s very good at responding on text. Me, I try to be as fast as possible on email. I’ve always said, if it takes less than five minutes, do it now.
Snack breaks: “It’s funny. People sometimes think we live in Los Angeles, but we’re a good two hours outside of it. We’re commuters. We drove down recently for a day of back-to-back meetings , equipped with chocolate chip cookies the size of my toddler’s head. Also, my husband’s favorite is In-N-Out. There’s one at the halfway point between L.A. and our neck of the woods. It’s really fun to go through the drive-thru and surprise them. They know our order.
Harry loves In & Out! They nosh on chocolate chip cookies! Once again, Meghan confirms the existence of the docuseries, which will hopefully come out in December this year. And if Archewell greenlights a bunch of rom-coms, I will laugh my ass off. All of the Salt Island tantrums about Harry and Meghan’s Netflix deal and how “Netflix wants their pound of flesh” and after all of that, the Sussexes might just become producers of inexpensive romcoms for Netflix. Anyway, she’s giving us so much! Enjoy. I haven’t checked in on the Salt Island media yet but I bet there are banner headlines, tantrums and wailing.
Cover & IG courtesy of Variety.
Oh please.
She is smart but she was also always beautiful. I think she’s doing a bit too much trying to be relatable.
It’s fine to admit you were pretty.
Why are you discounting how she felt?
Why can’t girls be smart and pretty?
@Mac – if we go by What Meghan is doing with Archetypes, “smart” and “pretty” are labels used to put girls and women into categories – kind of a shortcut of assumptions about what they are like as people and how society should respond to them. Girls can definitely be both smart and pretty, but when dealing with categories, it’s like “arrgh, cognitive dissonance, two different sets of rules, must pick one, does not compute!”
Meghan is drawing the distinction between smart and pretty.
@Mac – my interpretation is that she was talking about the boxes we tend to put ourselves in, especially growing up. Of course you can be smart and pretty, but many girls don’t feel that way.
Middle school Meghan was awkward looking. That’s how she defined herself when she was younger. You may blossom into your looks and her industry is built on being beautiful,but that’s not how she defined herself in her formative years.
@Mac – I think we have to look at Meghan’s actual words. She says she grew up as the smart one. That means she grew up in an environment in which her role and identity were that of the smart one. That doesn’t mean she was ugly, it doesn’t mean she wasn’t considered pretty, just that her primary descriptor within her environment was “the smart one.” These descriptors follow us throughout life and form the core of our identity, so Meghan may be physically beautiful, but that’s not the identity that’s deepest in her mind.
Perhaps she didn’t see it, nor feel it…. You know?
Being physically beautiful is almost never all that goes into being a “pretty girl”. It’s a lot more about stuff like styling and clothes, awareness about certain things, mindset about yourself and self esteem. There’s a toxic aspect where high self esteem can meet teen ignorance and become bullying, but for the most part, being a “pretty girl” is just being part of a particular clique, and being pretty didn’t guarantee they would let you in
ITA Dee,
the “prettiest” girl in my class was very skinny but rather plain. she was quiet, not a good student or athlete.she had older sisters and was always with older kids. her hair and clothes were always what was considered cool. being the “pretty” one was not really about her face. the “prettiest” girl in the grade above me had a gap in her teeth you could fit a whole other tooth in. but she was always with older kids and her hair and clothes were what was cool. and I went to an all white school. being biracial would be a completely different layer to all of this.
there was a girl gina in my class that when I look back on the class photos, she looks like she should be in a commercial for shampoo or something but she was not considered pretty. she was smart and we only get one adjective I guess.
She is beautiful! But I think what she’s trying to say is that she didn’t feel beautiful or wanted something she wasn’t. Years ago she said that she got her hair cut like Andie MacDonald, but it didn’t look like Andie’s because she had “ethnic” hair.
On a different note, I love that white dress, which looks like it’s covered in pink lilies.
Andie MacDowell
But SHE didn’t see herself that way. I can relate to this and I’m sure other people/women can as well. And doing too much is what we as black girls have always had to do because white America won’t just let us be. Maybe you should take a step back and really listen to what she is sharing.
I think this is a perspective thing – especially growing up in LA in the 90s. She was biracial and, probably before starting to straighten her hair, had frizzy and curly hair that “pretty” girls around her didn’t have. We would never see her pictures from then now and say she wasn’t pretty/beautiful. But I speak from experience when I say that’s enough when you’re 12/13 to make you feel like pretty isn’t your lane and to go for smart instead.
Shoot. I’m white with dark, thick curly hair and was made to feel ugly in the 90s in the southeast U.S. My nickname in junior high was Pat (from SNL). I absolutely believe she might have felt the same. The curly hair resources we have now were not out there then.
I’m her same age, and the late 90s/early 00s were very much “ONLY BLONDE HAIR- BLUE EYED- CHEERLEADER IS BEAUTIFUL”. I imagine it was especially true in LA.
She touched on it briefly with the comedian, but the defense of “I may not be the Pretty Girl, but I’m the Smart Girl or the Funny Girl” was certainly a thing we all did at my high school.
This! Having difficult to manage hair and being ‘other’ contributes to a lot of how we internalize those comments made my our society, classmates, etc. I’ve only in the recent 5/6 years started to learn how to love my hair and use curly products.
I had a friend who moved to LA to try out acting in the early 90s. She got some voice over work but nothing on screen. She was a very pretty curvaceous brunette in a sea of leggy blondes. And yeah she didn’t feel pretty there despite having always been told she was actress pretty outside of LA.
@Cara
ITA!! I hear you girl. White, short, curvy red head with freckles and back then, super coarse curly hair.
I NEVER felt pretty. Even when I got to college (2003-2007) I always felt overlooked for my tall, thin, blonde friends.
Came to agree with everyone, pretty much, who said there’s so much more to the “pretty girl” than just looks alone. Studies have shown that the most “attractive” face is the average of all faces, meaning if you overlapped images of 100 women and created a composite of their facial structure/features, that face would be considered the most pleasing to the eye. So much of what is considered standardly “pretty” is unobtrusive, inoffensive, and hard to find fault with, so I’m not surprised that many models and actors, with their unique features, were not the “pretty” ones growing up.
Also, Meghan went to a girls school—that’s double the number of girls with whom you’re comparing yourself. The pretty ones were popular with boys, knew all the latest trends and always looked cool (despite their uniforms) and had so many things going on. I can 100% see herself as not identifying with that “archetype.”
I worked at a store with showbiz clientele. There was a big time cinematographer who said what surprised him was that famous actresses and models were rarely the “pretty” sister in their family. Being photogenic is different from being pretty in real life. Much more about bone structure.
Can confirm. Lived in Hollywood for 14 years. You would be surprised at how many actors and actresses are utterly plain looking in person but are extremely photogenic. For example, Gwyneth Paltrow. I saw her in person up close and she was the mousiest girl I’d ever seen. Conversely there are pretty people in real life who don’t photograph well. My example is Mary J Blige. I also saw her up close in person and I found her stunningly gorgeous. The cameras do not do her justice AT ALL. Then there are celebrities who are even prettier in person than in camera. My example would be Jessica Alba. When I saw her in person, she was so pretty I wanted to slap her.
great point Concern Fae!
Yikes, way to discount her own personal feelings. Adolescence is a rough, rough time of life. Not everyone recognizes personal beauty in themselves when they’ve got glasses and braces and zits and whatever else.
I think it absolutely isn’t discounting someone’s feelings about their looks to point out that how someone looks in person can be very different from how they photograph. There is a tendency to look at someone who photographs well and be befuddled at the fact that they weren’t always perceived as a great beauty in real life.
Sure, there is the insecurity everyone has about their looks, but also the reality that the camera sees things differently from the human eye.
Going by photos, Meghan didn’t really blossom physically until the latter part of her high school years. It is quite believable that she wasn’t really considered a looker before then.
This. I think she’s beautiful and always was beautiful. But that doesn’t mean that she was Gap Kids’ Model Beautiful as a child — in LA — with parents who worked in and around the industry…
She was not only dealing with typical kid-level self-perception issues, but also ideas of beauty being influenced by race (anyone who has ever been told they are “pretty for a black/biracial girl” knows *exactly* what I’m talking about) and by the insanity of Hollywood beauty standards. And even though she definitely blossomed toward the end of high school, that doesn’t mean that she fit the beauty standards *of her peers* or for influential members of her family. I have cousins who are beautiful, and I’m no slouch, but I was the “smart” one in the family because they had the “pretty” role locked up, even though I’m just as pretty as them and they are just as smart as me.
I don’t think she’s calling herself ugly — I think she’s really highlighting that beauty is a shifting, evolving standard both societally and at different life stages. She has a perspective of not being considered pretty and seeing that shift later on in life. I don’t think her words are as confusing as some are making them out to be.
When I look at my early teens photos I was a normal, pretty teenager. Not beautiful, but with nice haircut and clothes I could stand out more. I’ve never felt pretty at that time, always awkward and envious of „really pretty” girls. So I understand her.
Disagree. I think she’s even prettier now than when she was on Suits or DOND. And I mean outside of the shows. She understands her looks more and knows how to emphasize what works. She wears her hair differently, uses makeup differently, stands and dresses differently. Her confidence is different. She is beautiful but also grew into her looks. That’s true of so many people.
I agree. She employs more subtlety in her styling, which lets her beauty shine through unobstructed. She might be unknowningly taking cues from Parisian women! About her ‘blossoming’ at a certain point in her early youth, let’s be honest: She adopted a certain diet, ditched spectacles, fixed her teeth gap, flattened her hair, shaped her eyebrows, started to wear makeup and might/might not have a boob job. So, it wasn’t as if nature did its course but she wanted to achieve a certain look for professional or personal reasons.
I think its a perspective thing and also just a growing up thing. Kids put other kids into categories that stick for a long time. There are the athletic girls, the pretty girls, the smart girls.
I was a smart girl, I’ve never thought of myself as especially pretty or attractive, I’m smart. That’s my thing, its always been my thing, i’m smart, I read a lot, I loved school, I love learning new things at 40 years old, etc. When people tell me I’m pretty or I look nice or whatever I always sort of smile and feel super awkward, bc I’m not pretty or attractive or nice looking. I’m the smart one. At 40 years old that is still so ingrained in me. Even when I look at pictures from my wedding, where I did look really good (lol), I still don’t think of myself that way.
I never look in the mirror and especially like the way I look, and I don’t mean that in a sad “oh I have such bad self esteem” kind of way. It’s just not how I process myself, IDK. i don’t know how to explain it better.
But these categories take hold and settle in our minds and can be hard to overcome. You can be smart AND pretty AND athletic etc. But those early years are super formative (as Kate could tell us, LOL.)
@Becks – I feel this so hard. I was always the “smart one” in my friend group, in my school, in my entire small town. My best friend was the “pretty one”, and that dynamic held until our mid-20s until I realized how she *needed* me to be less desirable, to be her foil. I still can’t take a compliment about my appearance, but I’ve had moments where I could objectively see myself as “beautiful” and smart. And I think that’s where Meghan is at: when you tell your own story about yourself, you take control of those labels. You can lean I to them, subvert them, or redefine them, or reject them entirely. And that’s really powerful. I’m trying to teach that to my smart, creative, beautiful teenager daughter.
@Becks, I wholeheartedly DISAGREE— I’ve seen a photo of you and you are very pretty!
Um not really. She had lots of frizzy hair and a gap in her teeth. I would imagine growing up around a beauty obsessed industry like Hollywood is not easy. I grew up as the shy, skinny girl with the glasses, braces and acne and that’s how I saw myself. It wasn’t until I was in my twenties, when my childhood friends pointed out to me that “hey you don’t look like that anymore”, that I really believed it. Maybe one day, all of that emphasis on looks won’t matter but I doubt it. “Beauty” is a big industry built on people, especially women chasing an “ideal”.
Agree. She was not a beauty in the conventional sense when young and add to that, that she grew up on the set of Married With Children where Christina Applegate was the conventional blue eyed, blond beauty…
Mostly agree with you, but let’s take a step back from using “frizzy” to criticize WOC’s hair. That’s her natural hair texture and perhaps this product or that one could have tamed it a bit more (if anyone had invented one yet, lol!), but after reading yesterday how chemical hair straighteners double one’s risk for uterine cancer, we need to allow WOC to embrace the beauty of their natural hair textures, and as a society, see those textures and hairdos as BEAUTIFUL!
this is like the 2 or 3rd time she has referenced this and it feels , i dont know, a little strange to me?
i mean there are plenty of women/girls who are both, and while im sure she doesnt mean it that way, if feels like Meghan is saying, you are either one or the other.
Also i dont understand the goal of that statement, that is, was it a bad thing , to have been smart instead of pretty ? Is pretty the ultimate currency at that age and if yes, isnt this something we , grown up women should stop peddling ? Or is Meghan saying, see i was the “just” the smart one and look at me now ? in any case we need to stop pitting smarts and beauty.
In this context, she’s specifically relating it to Paris Hilton, and how she (Meghan) did not “grow up pretty” especially when she compared herself to Paris Hilton.
didnt Meghan also talk abt this in the Mindy podcast ?
I think she and Mindy both talked about and sort of commiserated about it.
“Not growing up pretty” can leave a real emotional impact on a girl (I speak from experience!), especially if others ridicule her appearance (sadly, I also speak from experience) Even if you then have that “glow up” as an adult, a part of you still remains that ugly duckling and can never really shed those insecurities. From the pix I’ve seen of young Meghan, if she was my daughter, I would absolutely have found her gorgeous and perfect in every way. But when she viewed her younger self through the eyes of her peers – most important to all the young people i know – she likely did not feel gorgeous and perfect at all.
Not really. Her pre-teens/early teens were very awkward/nerdy girl with frizzy, uncontrollable hair, zits and braces. There are plenty of pictures out there. By the time she was a senior, her glow up had begun.
Stop referencing black women’s hair as frizzy and uncontrollable. I cannot believe we are still using these words to describe hair in 2022. People spend a lot of money nowadays in search of “frizzy” and “uncontrollable’!
Agreed. Please don’t use the word “frizzy”. We have highly textured curly hair, some might call it “tightly coiled”. But we never refer to it as “frizzy”.
@val and @Beverley… in the Mindy podcast, Meghan said that her hair was frizzy growing up.
I will be honest, when she was younger she didn’t have what white Americans consider “beauty”. She grew into her looks. I always thought she looked like how I did as a teen. All arms, legs, teeth, and hair.
I know EXACTLY what she means. I am just a bit older than her and I have a Black parent and a White one. When I was in high school, all the girls considered beautiful were blond and blue eyed. All of them. In fact, if you looked at my high school year book, voted most beautiful was a blonde girl every year. Every year. Girls like Amal, Meghan, Lupita would not have been chased by boys back then. The standards of beauty have really evolved. And we still struggle with its narrow definition.
Meghan had super curly hair like me. This was not considered beautiful back then. In fact, people made fun of it. I had a long skinny neck and I was skinny. I was called pencil neck. We had fuller lips. Lip injections weren’t available then, so guess what was considered absolutely awful? Fuller lips. All the movies were John Hughes White girls are goddesses themed. The rest of us were in the background. The bridesmaid and never the bride. The best friend in the rom com. This has changed with Halle, Lupita, Mindy, Jodie, etc.
It was only when I hit my 20s that men started to notice me – not that we should give a shit about the male gaze – but my point is girls like Meghan were not considered gorgeous back then. It was Christy Brinkley. It was Molly Ringwald. It was Linda Evangelista. Naomi Campbell came on the scene and blew our minds.
Yes now when I look at pics of myself I think geez I was pretty! Why did I not see that? Why did I allow everyone’s else opinion affect how I saw myself. Even now it’s hard to break from that because of what I grew up with. And the truth is I get worshipped today in 2022 for having a lighter eye color. Worshipped. Over eye color. FFS it’s 2022. I grew up with a darker eye color and they’ve progressively lightened over time. And as the eye color lightened, the compliments quadrupled. This worship of Aryan features. It’s ridiculous. So yeah I can see how a brown eyed beauty didn’t see herself as a beauty.
When you live in a society that worships certain things – hair that isn’t curly (in 2022 Kate is giving us a master class on how to keep sleek straight hair in the Caribbean climate – and that’s just one example of how racist the media and the beauty industry is) when the definition of beauty literally EXCLUDES you intentionally – you have to de-program from it. I grew up literally looking at the racist and insulting White women in Africa with the natives Vogue spreads and people who look like me or darker are all literally in the background like fucking accessories.
Yeah I’ve had to do a whole lot of deprograming. I completely 100% understand what she is saying. She was always gorgeous – it just took the rest of society time to catch up and understand it/see it.
You said a word.
I understand this. As the daughter of a Brazilian an American, I got called duck lips a lot growing up and I had a very round backside no matter how skinny I was. I was definitely made fun of. It’s still it’s hard to wrap my mind around that people pay money to look like that now because I felt such shame (I wasn’t taught to love myself but that’s a whole Nother matter). It was such a source of bullying. It took me 40 years to look in the mirror and appreciate those features. But I get it. I was definitely not the stereotype of a pretty girl even though I look back now and think I looked pretty good.
@ThatsNotOkay and @Nutella Toast thank you. This is why Lizzo is important. Serena is important. Mindy is important. Simone Biles is important. Ariana Debose is important. Young girls have to see them shining. You know it’s interesting but Meghan recently interviewed Paris Hilton – you know who was in the background of her show? (I didn’t watch it but I do know this info) Kim Kardashian.
Now I don’t like Kim but if you look at pics of her from back then before the surgeries and the duck faces – she was drop dead gorgeous. I hate to compare women but I am only doing it to illustrate the point. The gorgeous one is in the background of a shallow reality show. Truth is I’m surprised they let Kim on at all. And that is a pretty recent example of how things were/are done round here. And folks still debate whether Serena or Lupita are beautiful. That’s how brainwashed they are – they can’t (or won’t) even see beauty when it’s right there in front of them.
Meghan is a couple of years younger than me so it would have lined up with Kate Moss and Cindy Crawford too.
@SIde Eye, thank you for this…you nailed it.
@ Side Eye – YES and SAME HERE to all this. God, just believe a person who tells you about her experiences. And when that person is NOT WHITE, maybe take a minute and think about how THAT has also impacted her experiences.
Yes @Cara you’re right. I’ll throw Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston in that mix. The “It” girls never looked like me growing up.
@Petra thank you for understanding. I know I’m long winded lol. But growing up during our era was ROUGH with very little representation. To this day, I have negative feelings about my curly hair (weird cause I love it on other people) and I blow it out straight. It’s related to my being made fun of for my hair growing up. That stays with you. It stings. I have to work on deleting that crap from my brain. I know a lot of women who are de-programing about hair, skin tone, color, weight, and yes, the sting goes back to our childhoods – negative things other kids and often ADULTS have told us that we unfortunately absorbed and that rear their ugly heads decades later.
@Green Desert thank you. We can’t apply 2022 standards to 1993. It was a totally different time. We still have a very long way to go in appreciating all kinds of beauty. But one thing that really bothers me is when people argue with others about how they feel. Meghan said she didn’t feel beautiful growing up. As a Black woman I completely understand and relate to that statement. When you see images of anyone who looks like you as a prop for White models in magazines. You’re literally background for “ethnic” shoots featuring and centering White models wearing African prints. When Miss America or Miss Canada was never ever a person of color and when there finally was one they stripped her of her title. When every “it” girl looked like Gwyneth Paltrow. Every prom queen the same. I grew up in that time. Hit movies like 16 Candles, The Breakfast Club, Dirty Dancing, or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – not a Black person in sight.
We were just talking about the hot mess that is Olivia Wilde yesterday and yes, in 2022 she deleted the Black actors from her mediocre film – and one of them has a Tony! We have a very long way to go – but the first step is LISTENING and understanding our own privilege. Today, l have all kinds of privilege I didn’t have growing up. I am hyper aware of it. So when someone tells me their experience who doesn’t have this same privilege, I listen. I learn. I try to do better. I really wish people would stop dismissing people of color and just listen instead of always dictating to us what happened to us as if we weren’t even there.
MMC you’re white right? In a lot of places in the Us being pretty was whiteness, Eurocentric beauty standards, wealth. I felt like I was lesser than because I didn’t have blond hair /blue or green eyes or white skin.
I didn’t look like the girls in the Delia’s catalog, and I never felt pretty because the girls on magazines didn’t look like me. Let’s not forget that young girls are /were taught to compare themselves to Cindy Crawford or Julia Roberts or Kate Bosworth or Paris Hilton or whatever type of pretty was the norm at the time.
It’s probably comparisons to the euphoria cast now, plus insta and TikTok models, and dang if the young women I know aren’t really into facial serums and lip injections watching YouTube makeup tutorials under the guise of female empowerment. I feel cranky because ahhh, it can be fun – I get it – but I don’t want that to become the expectation for what we all have to look like.
What a strange attack on Meghan, she MUST SAY SHE HAS ALWAYS BEEN BEAUTIFUL. Man, she just cannot win. Like I always say, there is no shortage of people who feel entitled to tell women what to say, wear and think.
In HS I was smart, played sports, did well in school, had friends. I probably was pretty but I also developed very early on so I was Extremely self conscious, and “huge” (tall but it was the late 90’s so anything over skeleton was huge). I struggled A lot, and hid it. Therapy came when my family found out I was Cutting myself/eating disorder. The first session the woman therapist said “you’re pretty and skinny what are you so upset about” and it took me 15 years and a nervous breakdown to get actual therapy and real help.
TL;DR – discounting somebody’s lived experience because of a projection of your own insecurities can be dangerous. At the very least, it’s rude.
100% this.
We’ve all seen the pics of Meghan as a pre-teen, and can recognize how she was not the standard of beauty for the time. To act like she is straight up lying now, and was always beautiful, is flat out disingenuous, and anyone objectively viewing it now can see that.
Plus, she owns it, and that should be the end of this weird argument where people are acting like Meghan has always been gorgeous.
See also: Harry hasn’t always been hot, and I’m sure he knew it.
If you’ve seen photos of her as a pre teen she absolutely was not a conventional beauty (which is a nice way of saying she was a little awkward.). You carry that around with you forever-no matter what you grow into later.
Like most of us she went through a gawky phase growing up. I’ve seen pictures of her pre- high school so she is not being misleading here at all.
I think MM thinking she wasn’t the “pretty” one has so much to do with race and the outdated but pernicious smart/pretty binary, which was especially pronounced the era in which she and I grew up.
MM and I are about the same age, and we are both mixed. I was also labeled as “smart” at a really young age thanks to the quirks of testing very small children for the “gifted” class. When I was in high school, I was definitely NOT considered pretty. I was the only girl in grad not to asked to the prom. The pretty girls were indisputably white and never, ever the ones categorized as “smart.” I was a racially ambiguous nerd during a time when the beauty ideal encompassed Paris Hilton, Gwyneth Paltrow and the “Friends” trio—white, skinny, approachable, never intimidating in personality or intelligence. Years later, several high school classmates admitted to me that they always thought I was so pretty when we were growing up—–it just wasn’t a thing anyone could acknowledge. I moved to New York City for college, and suddenly got a lot of attention for my looks. It was shocking to me.
I can 100% see how even an exceptionally beautiful woman like MM would not, in the context of high school, be considered pretty. That shit stays with you.
Oh, honey, Los Ángeles is a different creature. Gorgeous young women are tortured about how they look. Anyone who has grown up there knows it and sees it. She was the smart one because she didn’t have a huge rack or blond hair. The powers that be want every women in L.A. to look the same. Anyone who doesn’t comply is “the smart one” and is not considered “beautiful”.
Exactly, Christina! Los Angeles is an entirely different animal. If you don’t check each box of what is considered beautiful according to Eurocentric standards, you are practically invisible. I definitely understand and relate to Meghan’s point of view.
Have you been to LA? I can understand her thinking this. People are abnormally gorgeous in LA & Orange counties.
I believe her and lived the same experience. As a woman of color, you are often NOT the pretty one. I was also the smart one. I wondered how everyone in my family was so good looking and I wasn’t. Not to toot my own horn, but I am also an objectively pretty woman. Since high school, I’ve gotten a lot of attention for my looks. But for the first 17 years, I was just the smart, tall black girl.
Same here, even today I question my looks when everyone around me is always commenting on how pretty I am. My guy said to me last week, ‘you know you are prettier than you think”, and for some reason, I felt so awkward hearing that compliment, which came out of the blue. I guess we are our own worse critic and all we can do is give ourselves grace 🙂
It’s at times like this that I’m reminded that Women of Color are never afforded empathy when we talk about our lived experiences. It’s always viewed with suspicion or some ploy to illicit a favorable response.
it’s interesting how people see themselves and other kids when they were growing up vs now. when I was a child and teen I felt so homely and fat and there were girls in my class I thought were so glamorous. when I was looking at photos when I sold my mom’s house, I was cute and not fat and the girls I envied weren’t any cuter. self esteem and the lack of it is so interesting.
I see pictures of young Meghan and think she is so pretty but i know from my own experience that how you see yourself has so many other factors, it seems like how you actually look isnt the main factor.
also, I was always seen as smart and maybe in simplistic terms, you cant be both? the girls who were considered pretty were all popular and none were also considered smart, like you cant be both. school is a weird ecosystem.
YES PLEASE ROM COMS!!!!!!!
Have Jasmine Guillory’s books been optioned? Get them Archewell! Would love some more diversity in my formulaic comfort rom-coms!
Nah her quality fell off. Go for Ms. Beverly please. We need some hot historical romances.
@ChillinginDC Agreed! I’m not a JG fan, but Ms Bev??? Bring it!
Right? She has how many series? People would be glued to Netflix for days.
Tracey Livesay, Andie Christopher, Nisha Sharma, Sonali Devi, and Alisha Rai all write wonderful romances with diverse characters.
ChillinDC yes! I completely agree. Beverly Jenkins work is so much more amazing and the diversity we truly need.
I love Jasmine Guillory’s books. She’s one of my faves when I need an escape from the heavy and complicated reading I do for work.
I love Guillory’s books! I think some people are taking this love story angle a bit too literally. Meghan herself has given it a broader perspective. As long as it’s not like, gross mom and dad are kissing stuff, we’ll just have to wait and see. I like her and Harry but not like that, lol!
I am so happy for Meghan and Harry. That they have an In-N-Out burger that they frequent and the employees KNOW their order is really enduring. And yes they are rich people and royals, but they work, they commute, they have meetings with people. They contribute to society.
Que the British press freaking out about Meghan trying to kill Harry with In-N-Out burger and giant chocolate chip cookies!
I bet I am not alone wondering what their standard order is, right? 🙂
You are not! (:
Most women in her generation did not think they were pretty growing up because we were bombarded with images of Kate moss, Kate bosworth types, and jessica alba type. There was some body positivity but it did not seem as genuine as it is today. She also had a friend who was very pretty (forgot her name, it’s a unique name, the person who she is pictured in England with) so I believe she is being genuine with not feeling pretty. I’m from the west coast too, almost her age and had some obectively gorgeous and very thin friends who though not on purpose kind of made me feel quite unpretty in comparison. Even though when I look at my highschool pics I was not at all overweight and was pretty.
I teach gorgeous high school girls with lovely skin and hair, lovely figures, and nearly every single one is insecure about her appearance. Girls these days see social media and want that human blow-up doll look that can only be achieved via plastic surgery.
How many of us thought we were unattractive as teenagers, and look back at pictures of ourselves now and say damn, why didn’t I see how pretty I was?
Teenagers aren’t supposed to see themselves as pretty, even though most are to some degree just due to youth. We’re all supposed to feel unattractive and insecure so that we can buy the stuff that we think will make us attractive and secure.
We see the polished beauty that Meghan is today, but that’s due to growing into her own skin, the glamor she got from TV (I saw an interview with another Suits actor that described it as a glamor show–all the women were styled to look beautiful all the time). As a high school student, pictures of her show a cute, but pretty ordinary teenager. She was a pretty girl in the way high school girls tend to be–not a looks outlier in any way (I feel deeply sorry for the high school girls who are truly outlier beautiful. Those girls are even more vulnerable to being taken advantage of by older men, especially if they start modeling).
The gnashing of teeth and rending of hair from Salt Island is going to be epic. But…how can they screech that Meghan is “not royal” when you got Mr. Broke Nose Racist Meathead Deadbeat Rugby Bully on…a TV reality show that’s the equivalent of Flavor of Love/Rock of Love in the US?
Again, the royals have bigger problems than Harry and Meghan anyway. They are dithering over whether to grease up Chuck’s head with anal gland juice while the BBC is preparing scripts for how to tell the public about rolling blackouts mid-winter. People can’t afford their rent and their government is falling to pieces, and the Wails are moving into a castle.
If Sussex hate still gets play over there, with everything else going on…damn. Thank the lord Harry got his family away from that Heart of Darkness.
Oh Lanne 😂😂 I honestly don’t know which is my favourite part of your comment! Bravo, agree with everything although I never could have said it so colourfully!
My Nephew told me his electricity bill use to be around £90 and now it is £290 and it’s not even winter yet.
@lanne your comment is absolute perfection! What a mic drop!
I am loving all of these looks but I especially love the one of Meghan in the green halter neck galvan gown. It’s so whimsical.
Also, these two are the more relatable couple. Period. It’s hilarious to see the keens trying so hard to put out the “we’re just like you, we promise” image when in reality you can see the huge gap. Meghan and Harry actually do the work, and they inspire others along the way too. Plus omg All the little Archie tidbits. Can’t wait for their Christmas card photo in December.
I need making to a cooking show. Like asap
I would LOVE a cooking show from her. Finding Freedom said that when she was in England for the infamous Piers Morgan date (lol for days), one of the things she was exploring was a travel show with a food focus (i guess think like 40 dollars a day with Rachael Ray or something). Now that may not have been true at all, but its stuck in my head as something that I could see her doing and really doing it well.
There was no “date” with that creature. Infamous or otherwise.
…..which is why I said “lol for days,” but do go on.
Now the British media is going to stalk every In-N-Out between Los Angeles and Montecito to find out which one Harry and Meghan visit and bribe the workers on “dirt” aren’t they?
It’s interesting b/c ppl have to remember Meghan grew up in the 90s. What and who was perceived as the “pretty girl” back then in a private upper middle class school is not the same as who is perceived as popular now. Back then TV shows, music, movies, etc that showed who the popular girl was tended to be white, thin and middle class/rich (Paris Hilton was the embodiment of what the “pretty girl” esp in private schools looked like). While Meghan was a pretty girl, I understand what she meant by that. As much as gen z loves to copy the 90s fashion one thing they don’t understand was how pop culture was incredibly racist/misogynistic and no one batted an eye and questioned who or what was deemed as beautiful. There were poc who were/are beautiful in the industry in the 90s but they weren’t nearly as many as there are now and one would argue more representation is still needed.
These photos really do stink—the ones with the filters, anyway. The fuzzy, hazy, soft lenses. The silk screens. The excess pastels glowing and floating amorphously around. Real crap.
The ones that have no SFX and are more candid are lovely, if weird. Why have her lying on a tarp and show the borders of the tarp to make it clear it’s a photo shoot? Or have a gauzy blue sheet backdrop and show it’s a backdrop? I don’t know that this photographer is going to have anyone eagerly ringing them up any time soon.
Why would you think that photographer would accept you as a client?
I love rom coms so I hope they do produce some for Netflix. I like to watch something that will make me laugh and feel good at the end of the week. Julie Roberts movies are my favorite. I recently saw the clip of JR interview where she was asked about resembling MM I loved her response and now I can’t unsee the resemblance. They both have the best smiles and laughs.
Aha, so the docuseries is basically confirmed! At least that’s as strong a statement about it as we’ve heard so far. Remember that Netflix didn’t say yesterday that there WASN’T a docuseries from them, just that it hadn’t been confirmed.
I would love to see a rom com from them, I bet that happens in the future. I think they’ll get a few more documentaries/docuseries under their belts and then start exploring more fictional entertainment like rom coms. I think they would be super cute.
I just loved this interview. She seems so happy and confident and like she is really just plowing ahead with her life. Good for her.
Meghan has been burned by so many people she trusted. I hope this Liz Garbus is worthy of it. I’m a little uneasy hearing this docu-series is through her perspective.
I said this to Lorelei yesterday – what I’m sort of hoping for is a docuseries about great love stories in general, like the ones that went to SCOTUS and changed things – Loving, Obergefell – and then have H&M’s as part of that. that’s what I would have done anyway lol.
Years ago, I briefly worked with Liz Garbus (sort of— I had a job in which I talked to/met with her in various situations, but we were acquaintances *at best* — I left that job years ago, and she’d have absolutely no idea who I was if I saw her today), and I am KICKING MYSELF right now for not staying in touch with her!! Or, at the very least, not connecting with her on freaking LinkedIn. There are a bunch of people from that job that I am still in fairly regular touch with, but I really didn’t know Liz that well at all. Liz was always very nice, but seemed to be super busy.
At the time, she was partners with Rory Kennedy (who I worked with in the same capacity and she was…not very nice, at all—at least not to employees like me) and they founded a production company called Moxie Firecracker. I just checked and the website is still up, but it doesn’t look like it’s been updated in years, so idk if she and Rory still work together or not.
There’s one particular interaction I had with Liz that I remember because I was so nervous that my boss would hear me, and it was probably kind of unprofessional given the setting, lol, but I couldn’t help it: as soon as she and her husband walked into the reception we were hosting and I greeted them, I leaned in and asked her, “WHERE did you get this handbag?! I love it!” and she told me the name of the store in Brooklyn; she was really nice about it, giving me directions to the store because she said it was easy to miss, lol.
My boss didn’t hear it, but I also never found the bag ):
We have all heard it directly from Meghan’s mouth. The rota, BM, Page Six, et al can stop writing about Sussexes Netflix shows. There are multiple shows in the works, including a series about Meghan and Prince Harry which is being directed by a seasoned director.
“It’s nice to be able to trust someone with our story — a seasoned director whose work I’ve long admired — even if it means it may not be the way we would have told it. But that’s not why we’re telling it. We’re trusting our story to someone else, and that means it will go through their lens. “
I find this part most interesting:
“….even if it means it may not be the way we would have told it.”
Because what it says to me is that the shooting is all done, perhaps even the editing also; because it is clear that M has seen either a finished or almost-finished product such that she was able to make that comment.
SO! It seems we may be in for a one-two-three royal punch between now and end of year:
(1) The Crown S5
(2) Harry’s Memoir
(3) The H&M Docuseries.
And, of course, the rest of Archetype episodes which will go on til the last Tuesday in November.
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG
That was a sweet reveal, @Kingston. I’m looking forward to Netflix getting my money this November and December.
Joy. That’s exactly what she is.
All the royals’ worst fears coming true! Harry is becoming Americanized. 🇺🇲
Light skin Harry have been attending backyard barbecue parties.
No lie but I hope it’s not a documentary about their love story. I just…feel like eh maybe stop? If it’s something akin to Bell Hooks talking about love and the many ways of it which sounds like it may be going in that direction, then sure do it. I am not trying to say don’t celebrate your marriage, but they keep acting like it was the most awe inspiring thing out there for everyone. And I say this as someone who got up early to watch the wedding.
I find their love story awe-inspiring and would relish a chance to learn more about it.
But again, we’re both nobodies who don’t get a say on what they choose to do with their lives or company.
Yep we don’t have a say. I am personally saying I don’t think it’s that awe inspiring and I am a fan. She’s a rich actress who met a Prince and married him. She has gotten criticized (unfairly) I think for not doing more to change the monarchy and to now own up to it’s racist past. But think she is going to get criticized the same way she did when she related a story of a man telling her that the wedding was bigger than Mandela.
I am seeing on Twitter there’s mixed comments about the photoshoot and her comments about TQ and also her documentary about their love story.
Completely agree about hoping it’s NOT a sappy docu-series about their “love story”. (And I say that has a huge Sussex fan!) Let your IRL actions do the talking about that.
Keep the content just about your work, and give the haters nothing personal. People will watch whatever you create, trust me!
That’s all I am saying Molly. I read that and felt my heart sink. If she goes about talking about the many forms of love and elevates it like that, cool. But I don’t need to see behind the scenes on how they met, married, etc. Just like eh?
I think they’re trying to change the focus of their story, from struggle to something more positive. I’m not terribly interested in their love story personally, but I appreciate the need to pivot.
I definitely get the need to pivot. It just feels a bit too like something the Kardashians would do.
I’m going to respectfully disagree. This is not at all a Kardashian way of looking at things:
And our definition of love is really expansive: Partner love, self-love, the love of community and family. We use that as the baseline of the kind of shows and documentaries we want out there. For my husband, the Invictus Games have been such a huge piece of his life and his work, having been in the army for 10 years and working for the rehabilitation of wounded vets and their families. We talk about emotional injuries that come from those types of experiences. Those are love stories.
I respectfully disagree. We’re seeing, in real time, Diana’s story being written over and erased by the BRF and the rota. I think it’s important for Meghan and Harry to get their truth out, on the record, so there’s a counter to the lies – think Diana in her own words. If they don’t tell their love story, someone else definitely will.
But no one is discounting their love story. People are discounting life as a working royal. If she doesn’t want to touch on that at all, more power to her, but no one is going around claiming they are not in love. There are huge memes out there about how hot Harry finds his wife and vice versa.
I agree. What makes their love story compelling to me is that it survived a gargantuan effort to destroy it. How many times have people said on this site: Harry better be worth it, because there’s NO WAY I would put up with all that mess.
The two of them have had everything they have said and done as a couple questioned, undermined, ridiculed, and sneered at, from the people they thought they could love and trust the most. Their story is about so much more than rich actress meets rich prince. Their story is about how love intersects with race, class, media, and family.
Here are some things I’d like to know. What was it like for them to read about people from the palace openly calling Meghan a “degree wife?” What was it like for Harry to realize that the family that seemed welcoming was working behind his back to make her leave? What was it like for Harry to see all of the racism lobbed her way, racism that he barely knew existed before? What was it like to realize that the woman you love, who left her life behind for you, who left her career and her country, is being abused mercilessly by the media just because of her involvement with him? I’d like to know how Meghan survived this. Did she have doubts? When did she realize that these Palace frauds were smiling in her face and actively conspiring against her behind her back? What’s it like to have so many people who have never spoken to you, never met you, proclaim they know all about your relationship, and that they have the right to talk about it while you don’t? What was it like for Meghan to realize that Harry’s family literally didn’t care if she lived or died? How were they able to rely on each other, and have faith in each other, when there was an entire media institution devoted to breaking them up, and sending Meghan back to America to face ridicule and hardship? What made them decide: this trauma ends here, and we will not sacrifice our children to it in the name of tradition?
They can talk about what they want to on their own terms, and I think they can do it without saying a whole lot about the Windsors specifically. I really don’t give a shit about the Windsors and their petty jealousies. I’m interested in how Harry and Meghan escaped them.
I think it will slowly dawn on the ratchets, and even the royals, that the Windsors are not the stars of the Sussex show. They were the obstacles the Sussexes navigate around, but I don’t think any show they do will be about the Windsors at all. We’re not going to learn about Camilla and Charles’s relationship, or the Wails. I think that might be horrifying for the royals, They expect to be the center of every story, and ultimately, they are not the center of the Sussex’s story.
What happens when the Sussexes tell their own story, and make barely any reference to the Windsors at all? I hope that’s the arc they take. I also agree that a story about other couples who faced insurmountable odds, like Obergell, (sp), Loving, the Obamas, maybe even a long time celebrity couple like Kevin bacon and Kyra Sedgewick–how do couples survive in the public eye, when so many people are rooting for them to fail?
Lanne thank you that is what I mean! I want to see that part of it. I don’t need to hear about how they met, who set them up, or any of that. I would hope they just leave the RF out of it because at this point even people who support them are all complaining that Meghan keeps bringing them up. I don’t agree, she’s asked, she responds, but at this point I would be like blanket boiler plate statement. Let Harry deal with them.
Of course they discount their love story. Maybe you missed the 900 daily troll articles about how Harry cheats on her, is ready to dump her, she was his last choice, etc, and they aren’t just from trash forums.
“People who support them” aren’t complaining several comments at a time that their “love story” is boring and overdone. People who support them let them say what they need to say and move on if they don’t want to read. Something you could do.
I definitely hope its about their love story in their own words. And we’ve never heard that, not even in Finding Freedom. The last interview like that was before the wedding before all hell broke loose. They talked a little bit about their relationship in the Oprah interview but that wasn’t the main focus. I think because there has been so much bullshit from the media not to mention 3(!) Lifetime movies that we think we’ve heard it all but we haven’t, at least not from Meghan and Harry directly.
I’m jealous. We don’t have In N Out here in Mobile, AL.
OMG I can’t tell you how bad I want to try In N Out. I live in Canada. I see people eating it on YouTube and it looks so damn good…especially those animal style fries !!!!!
I’ve said this before, but how many women can look this gorgeous with hair parted in the middle worn flat to the head? Yikes! She is stunning.
I’m with Meghan. E-mail all the way. I don’t like doing work via text. It’s so much more intrusive and inexact and disorganized. A nice complete e-mail, with everything laid out point by point, with a nice, tight paper trail and clear-cut response chains, is more professional and, quite frankly, sane!
Whoever styled her for this article hit it out of the park – this is the stuff she should have been wearing for BRF appearances. She would have outshined other crusty people but whatever lol
The more she speaks the more difficult it is to latch onto the caricature created by the British press. Brace yourself for the onslaught of ‘former fans’ lamenting her “unrelatable” rebrand. What will they do with all that hate now that the subject has revealed herself to be the most joyous, benign, sweet ‘Nerdy American mom’.
“She’s trying so hard to be relatable.” No, she’s disturbing the tabloid character with her reality. Having followed Meghan since The Tig, I’m happy to see the woman I recognise returned to us fans.
The cover image is not my favorite. The video is a delight.
Video was much better and made me smile.
The video was perfect! It was funny, relaxing and cozy… I loved it and her!! She’s such a joyful woman!
I agree wholeheartedly, and it’s not even something you see just with Meghan. Some “fans” only want to be fans of people when there is strife and negativity. When that person is happy and isn’t “shading” people or clapping back and are just living life they can’t deal with it. It’s like some people just latch on to unhappiness and use “defending” someone else as an excuse to get all that nastiness they want to unleash into the world about their own struggles out there. They resent their former faves for moving on.
@SunRae and @Dee(2)
Wow. What youve both said is so eye-opening for me. I see it happening…..even right here on this thread, in real time: folks already expressing their disappointment in seeing Meghan reveal her true self and therefore causing preconceived notions about her, borne out of the britishShidtrags caricature and lies, to be pushed back on.
Wow. Human beings can be such monumental shidts, eh?
Nah I am happy that girl is shining right now. I felt really annoyed how people right here on this site kept saying that Meghan was obviously traumatized when back in the UK for the funeral and how she needs to leave and or not have her kids with her.
I am saying that I was disappointed with her last episode because she brought on Paris Hilton who is problematic AF. Even basic research would have caught that. And I am disappointed because a documentary about her and Harry’s love story doesn’t interest me personally.
Bring on the rom coms though!
But I will say that I am not a fan, but a supporter. That’s too different things in my head. I don’t call myself a fan of anyone or anything because Fans are way too extreme to me.
@ChillinginDC I mean if it doesn’t apply let it fly right? I was actually commenting less about that observation for Meghan but more on a story about Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber that I commented on yesterday. There is a definite contingent of people who like people because it gives them the chance to be messy and keeping it 100 some of the Sussex supporters fall into that basket.
I get you on Paris Hilton, but it’s just like going to the Jubbly when fans were like they were disappointed in her and didn’t want to support anymore. Meghan is a fully formed individual making choices and decisions with information we aren’t privy to. I think too many people have made her into this representation of something she isn’t and get mad when she doesn’t act like Angela Davis or Assata Shakur.
Well funny Sunrae, you have a few just above your comment who are falling for it right now, “,I’m sort of not a fan of hers anymore” type of comments but it is what it is I guess
this was a much friendlier piece than the NY piece she had before…also way less writer commentary. Interesting read. Meghan comes off more relatable. Still…wasn’t sure where she was going with the “I didn’t grow up pretty” comment. On its own, reads a little try hard, but in the context of being compared to Paris Hilton it makes more sense. Wish she would elaborate further now that she KNOWS she is pretty how that has changed her perspective. some of the pics were beautiful in the photoshoot but some are WAY too photoshopped…
The straight Q&A format definitely felt choppier and colder than the NY piece. I listened to the whole Paris Archetypes episode last night, and while I have very complicated feelings about Paris, the context Meghan added was very important.
Same with the “I didn’t grow up pretty” comment. It makes sense to hear her and her guest talk about it, but it loses a lot of important context when reduced to couple lines in print.
I get what she means. She blossomed in her late teens. I went to school with girls who were always pretty since elementary and never had an awkward phase. Meghan definitely had an awkward phase but she overcame it.
This is such a cringy statement.
Well lots of us who were awkward adolescents and teenagers can relate. I was a runt with frizzy hair, gangly legs and flat as a board until I hit 16, then within a year I blossomed. Curly hair came into fashion (late sixties), I grew magnificent boobs, started wearing makeup and boys started paying attention to me. But today at age 70 that insecure, withdrawn young girl still exists — the one who got teased mercilessly, didn’t fit in with the sorority crowd, never got asked out.
Did you experience that? Apparently not.
Yes, I did.
I think one thing that is worrisome is the young girls who are looking up childhood pics of Meghan and thinking “wow I look like her NOW”. Meghan calling herself “ugly” as a kid is not something a girl that looks like her wants to hear. I know that’s not Meghan’s problem…but if I was a child that looked like Meghan, I would feel like “oh ok I guess I’m ugly then”. I know Meghan is actually saying she “felt” ugly and not necessarily was ugly, but unfortunately most kids won’t be able to comprehend what she’s saying.
She didn’t say ugly, she said she didn’t feel pretty. And she has a right to feel that way. We all do or not. Plus she leaned into being “the smart kid” and was in all kinds of clubs and leadership things. I think that’s something any kid should aspire too. A lot of “not pretty ” kids, especially girls felt like they had to hide away and not be seen, evidently she said fck it and ran with it.
I’m pretty sure that adolescent girls don’t make up a significant portion of Variety’s readership.
@ MsIam
Opposite of “pretty” is “ugly”. Yes, ofcourse she has a right to feel however she wants. I didn’t say otherwise.
@QuiteContrary
They use the internet. I don’t read Variety magazine either but I do visit celebrity gossip sites like this one, as do so many other young women/girls.
That isn’t what she said and you know it. Dysmorphia is a real thing and even women who we would call flawless get it. If anything, young women have said Meghan’s comments on navigating this made them feel seen not worse.
@ C
Well excuse me but that’s how I interpreted it. I have no issue with her, but I didn’t like what she said about that and know some young girls are going to compare themselves to her at that age. I don’t know how you could think otherwise. Do you not know how impressionable young girls are? They already have incredibly low self-esteem. I said what I said.
I agree, these aren’t the best pictures. Wasn’t she one of several covers Variety did in September and they pulled it for the mourning period? If that was the case and she was one of several that then became the only one: it would explain both the pictures and article seeming a bit choppy.
I’m with the majority of the other other posters, not really interested in seeing behind the scenes of their love story. I would rather see what they are doing that has not been made public. I also wish they would stop talking about anything related to the royal family bc it just makes people say..that’s all they have to talk about. She could have said something like, we, along with millions of others grieve the passing of the Queen but prefer to grieve for her privately as a family and then start talking about what they have going on.
Her comment about only having so much control over the Netflix thing was odd since they are executive producers and have been working on it for a year. So what exactly is it??!?!? And when is it coming out???
totally agree! enough with the love story part and tell me more about what you’re gonna do. there are WAY more crazier, moving, over the top love stories. Starting to care less and less about the fact you fell in love with a prince and married him….thats what initially drew everyone to your story…but it’s not gonna keep our attention forever. ditto on the royal family too. feel like both meghan and harry can just acknowledge the royal family gave them the initial platform for activism and to be humanitarians and just cut ties. do you really need to be attached and use titles from such an antiquated institution built on racism/elitism?
omg yes
I’m starting to think I read a different article than some people there. In the article, Meghan pivoted on every question about the BRF. She gave polite answers, and then redirect the focus to her work. If people are tired of hearing about BRF, Prince Harry, and Meghan then stop following every article that mentions them. Your irritations are directed at the wrong people. And for goodness and saneness sake, please wait to judge the series after you’ve at least viewed 1 episode.
Let all of us do better.
These are just randoms passing through, they come whenever Meghan has a story in her own words or hype they think is bigger than it should be to do their best to minimize, then they’re never seen again. Whatever.
i think i read the same article you did. The one where she says “so much of how my husband and I see things is through our love story. I think that’s what people around the world connected to, especially with our wedding. People love love.” I think it’s fair to say i’m not interested in their love story and please don’t make that the focus of your documentary? I don’t think i need to “do better” for offering that opinion.
Your comment before had a pretty significant chunk about how they need to stop talking about the royals, so it’s not like Petra’s comment isn’t accurate.
The first and last time Meghan and Harry spoke about their love story was to the BBC nearly 5 years ago. A comment here and there in subsequent interviews does not mean they are talking about it constantly.
Meghan has been consistent in how she speaks about the queen which through the years can be accumulated into a paragraph or two. The queen is tied to colonialism but she still remains Harry’s grandmother and Archie and Lili’s great-grandmother. It’s telling that the only people she has referred to in a warm manner from that family are the queen and Prince Phillip. How terrible were the rest of his family?
For some posters here, you’ve built up Meghan into a warrior for change but Meghan and Harry like Diana before them never set out to burn down the monarchy and Meghan and Harry offered a half-in, half-out idea. They use the titles the Queen gifted to them and have been respectful to the family when they could have said more. They want to do their bit of good in the world.
It’s important that Meghan and Harry tell their own story especially to media outside the UK like they have done with Oprah. We have seen Diana’s BBC interview silenced and it is chilling the level of control the British royal family have in the UK in general.
I am looking forward to the documentary. It’s important. I hope to hear how Archewell came about and their work with the UN because the cameras were following them in New York.
I find Meghan to be an earnest person. It’s just who she is. The goop comparisons are bizarre to me because Meghan is out there supporting paid leave, gun control, Black lives matter, mental health. She is not selling vagina candles. Some of you just don’t like it that Meghan is reclaiming her story and identity and that it’s not the caricature version the British media and royal family have been peddling these past 5 years.
@Quinn, The Goop comparison is meant as a putdown to Meghan by these people. What I find so funny is that these highly intellectual people are wasting their brilliantness on a gossip website. The math is not mathing for me.
I mean, beauty is all relative isn’t it? I think Meghan was pretty adorable as a kid, but if you’re comparing mixed race and black kids to the blond blue eyed standard, sure, they’ll strike out because it’s a very narrow view of beauty. I never thought Paris was beautiful but that’s not my beauty standard. Anyway, she has a right to her feelings. Could have done without the praise for the Queen but she is always going to be in a tough spot here.
I agree. I know it’s not their fault, but they’re over-exposed (I’m in the UK), and at a certain point, it all becomes too much. I would happily only read their interviews and hear about them and what they’re doing from the source, but it’s just impossible. I felt the same about Angelina Jolie once, I followed her closely before Brad, and then at the start of their relationship, but at around the time they adopted Pax and had the twins, it just became too much and I tuned out. Saying that, I’ve tuned back in recently!
The Fact that some woman want to make such a big deal of the fact that Meghan didn’t feel beautiful growing and want to nitpick her part . As Black woman and girls we don’t always grown up feeling seen or feeling beautiful the standard has always been white woman that’s what been pushed in society the media so for people to still here get all offended because how Meghan felt growing up just shows that people just wants any reason to criticize Meghan now how she felt growing up is a problem. Still in 2022 the media the society is still pushing white woman as the standard beautiful.
They really want to act like a biracial girl growing up in the 80s and 90s would’ve felt pretty. She’s always been beautiful, but we haven’t always lived in a world that could see it. Also, many of us have had glo-ups. It’s a thing. Even Mariah said in the Podcast ‘I was an ugly little girl.’
Some of it is fluctuating standards of beauty. My lips are my best feature, I get compliments constantly. When I was little, I was ridiculed for them. Some people forget that there was a time when white features were the standard. I think I know which demographic is unraveling about this and they’re being deliberately obtuse.
Very true. Growing up I was one of the only brown girls in my class. The standard of beauty was definitely white skin, blonde hair, blue eyes, and very skinny. That was in grade school. By the time I went to highschool, things changed. It was all about brown skin, long dark hair, and hips/butt/boobs. I mean beauty/body trends are stupid, and they seem to only be geared towards females. It’s really not fair. You are what you are and it shouldn’t be something that “goes out of style”.
They were acting just as brand new with the Jada thing! SMh
I hate how so many girls grow up thinking they can be pretty OR they can be smart. Both? Nope not allowed. You can be both, and you can be neither. From the pics I’ve seen of Meghan, she was pretty from the get-go. The thing is, SHE may not have felt pretty. Her feelings are what matter here. Lots of girls are pretty, but don’t feel it…they don’t take compliments when they get them. They think people are “just being nice”. It comes from low self-esteem, which most girls have at that age.
Right there with you, ipetgoat2. The more I’ve learned about Meghan, the more I’ve lost interest in her. As we say in my art, her work doesn’t resonate with me.
Aaaawwwww….its ok if you know youre not philanthropic; have no generosity of spirit; is not led by love….you know, like Meghan. “It takes all kinds to make a world……” and all that.
My dear friend from high school is mixed race and she is absolutely stunning, she was probably the prettiest girl in our class. But she never felt comfortable stepping in to that…she got racist crap from the white kids and the black kids early on (this was 30 years ago…), so she decided to become something they both respected…sporty. She literally made herself from a skinny pretty girl into a college athlete, and if she’d been born 20 years later she might have been a professional athlete too. We had a conversation recently about all her years in athletics and what drove her…it wasn’t a love for her sport, it was a desire for respect. She said white girls got respected just for being pretty, but she felt pressure to be something else. The attention she got as a pretty mixed race girl was mostly negative.
I’m going to enjoy the royal rota looking for Harry and Meghan talking about the Royal Family and finding nothing every-time. It’s clear that they have moved on from that life and are looking towards the future and now that the Queen is gone they’re nothing really keeping them back now. I’m excited for what’s to come from Harry and Meghan.
LMAO Arent folks tired, I mean really tired of being wrong where H&M are concerned????!!! How many times are their products and appearances preempted with pearl-clutching, angry jealous, envious, faux-concern and hate-filled gleeful anticipation of failure, only for the real thing to occur and prove to be fresh, innovative, pleasing and uniquely them!
Then all the naysayers end up with egg all over their faces.
On a different subject, the Variety article clearly conveys Meghan’s own ambivalence about Paris Hilton. That “episode is not framed as a defense of Paris; it’s the humanization of her,” Meghan said.
Also, for the record, Merriam-Webster defines “archetypes” this way: “the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies … also : a perfect example.”
Meghan’s use of the word may not please psychologists or other academics, but it isn’t incorrect. Her podcast discusses how women are shoehorned into artificial categories that are determined by society.
For people hoping that the Sussexes do a hit job on the Windsors are sadly disappointed, but the greater message is that the Windsors don’t run their lives so they are not worth it. The BM should be sick with the interview because AMERICAN reporters can get interesting interviews without blackmail or weaponizing the Markle Monsters.
I hope Archewell greenlights a bunch of romcoms! We need them desperately! The anti-romance trend of movies in the past few years is really disturbing, and anything but feminist.
I also was the smart-not-pretty one growing up. When boys started to be interested in me I was like ???? does not compute. And my belief in my own smart-but-therefore-not-pretty status helped one guy manipulate me for years. It took me a while after that relationship to realize (after being told by multiple guys) that I was pretty. Not Meghan level! But enough that I never had trouble getting the men I wanted to get.
You can be both. Being a smart woman does not preclude wanting and getting love and romance with men, no matter what some contemporary pop “feminism” says. So yes, more romcoms please.
Much as I support Meghan in the royal squabble I must admit I’m not a fan of her podcasts and interviews, maybe they just don’t speak to me, wish she would go back to acting, she was really cool in suits.
“I told her I wasn’t looking for a “gotcha” moment. I want a “got you” moment, where we get you.” Love that. More of that. I like her podcast.
I can relate to this in some ways. Between the ages of 9-13 I was incredibly chubby and awkward. My hair was very wavy and frizzy and in my small Catholic school my classmates (boys and girls) found it funny to see if pen caps and paper clips would get stuck in my hair. I just wanted to be thin and have straight hair like my friends and classmates. I was the “nerdy” bookworm. After 8th grade I went to public high school and freshman year I lost weight, straightened my Hair, and began wearing clothes from Delia’s and Alloy catalogues. I was then considered “pretty” but I never felt it. It’s funny, once I was considered pretty, it’s like I wasn’t “allowed” to be smart. It was one of the other. I think as a culture and society it has been ingrained in us that women can’t be both smart and pretty. In movies and tv shows there would very rarely be a girl who was both.
I am glad she clarified about their upcoming projects-Harry and Meghan are definitely looking towards a future with less division among family members-they are truly earning their own living with projects they love and enjoy working on-the Sussex family is about thriving not just surviving on a day to day basis-God bless and keep the entire Sussex family in safe and loving environment.
Northwestern is one of the best universities in the world, far far better than St Andrew’s. She’s the smartest person in that family. Charles didn’t have the grades for Cambridge; he was royalled in.
And yet she managed to major in theatre without comprehending the meaning of “archetype.”
I am an H&M fan and i wish when Meghan speaks of Harry she would say his name we all know he is her husband. It would be nice to hesr her say his name. He doesn’t say my wife all the time he says Maghan too. Just saying