Meghan Markle may be marrying Prince Harry tomorrow, but she's been speaking her mind publicly for years. Read on for quotes from the soon-to-be royal on what it was really like to date Prince Harry, the struggles of trying to make it in Hollywood, and everything in between.
On love
“We’re in love. I’m sure there will be a time when we will have to come forward and present ourselves and have stories to tell, but I hope what people will understand is that this is our time. This is for us. It’s part of what makes it so special, that it’s just ours. But we’re happy. Personally, I love a great love story.”—Vanity Fair, 2016
On dating Prince Harry
"We’re two people who are really happy and in love. We were very quietly dating for about six months before it became news, and I was working during that whole time, and the only thing that changed was people’s perception. Nothing about me changed. I’m still the same person that I am, and I’ve never defined myself by my relationship."—Vanity Fair, 2016
"I think I can very safely say, as naive as it sounds now, having gone through this learning curve in the past year and a half, I did not have any understanding of just what it would be like. There's a misconception that because I have worked in the entertainment industry that this was something I'd be familiar with, but even though I'd been on my show for six years at that point and working before that, I'd never been part of tabloid culture; I was never in pop culture to that degree." —BBC, 2017
On Prince Harry’s proposal
"Just a cozy night. What were we doing? We were trying to roast a chicken. It was just an amazing surprise. It was so sweet and natural and very romantic. He got down on one knee . . . As a matter of fact, I could barely let [him] finish proposing, like, 'Can I say yes now?!'" —BBC, 2017
On her parents’ divorce
"What’s so incredible, you know, is that my parents split up when I was two, [but] I never saw them fight. We would still take vacations together. My dad would come on Sundays to drop me off, and we’d watch Jeopardy! eating dinner on TV trays, the three of us. . . . We were still so close-knit."—Vanity Fair, 2016
On trying to make it in Hollywood
“My parents had been so supportive...watching me audition, trying to make ends meet, taking all the odds-and-ends jobs to pay my bills. I was doing calligraphy, and I was a hostess at a restaurant—and all those things that actors do. My father knew how hard it is for an actor to get work, so he above all people was so proud that I was able to beat the odds.”—Vanity Fair, 2016
On Teenage Insecurity
"My 20s were brutal—a constant battle with myself, judging my weight, my style, my desire to be as cool/as hip/as smart/as “whatever” as everyone else. My teens were even worse – grappling with how to fit in, and what that even meant."—The Tig, 2014
On self-esteem
"You need to know that you’re enough. A mantra that has now engrained itself so deeply within me that not a day goes by without hearing it chime in my head. That five pounds lost won’t make you happier, that more makeup won’t make you prettier, that the now iconic saying from Jerry Maguire–'You complete me'–frankly, isn’t true. You are complete with or without a partner. You are enough just as you are."—The Tig, 2014
On being a biracial woman
"While my mixed heritage may have created a grey area surrounding my self-identification, keeping me with a foot on both sides of the fence, I have come to embrace that. To say who I am, to share where I'm from, to voice my pride in being a strong, confident mixed-race woman. That when asked to choose my ethnicity in a questionnaire as in my seventh grade class, or these days to check 'Other', I simply say: 'Sorry, world, this is not Lost and I am not one of The Others. I am enough exactly as I am.'" —Elle UK, 2015
On being a role model
"With fame comes opportunity, but it also includes responsibility–to advocate and share, to focus less on glass slippers and more on pushing through glass ceilings. And, if I'm lucky enough, to inspire." —Elle UK, 2016
On having a purpose
"I’ve never wanted to be a lady who lunches—I’ve always wanted to be a woman who works. And this type of work is what feeds my soul and fuels my purpose."—The Tig, 2016
As the digital director for Town & Country, Caroline Hallemann covers culture, entertainment, and a range of other subjects
