The Duchess Of Sussex At 40: A Look At Meghan Markle's Childhood Years

Aug 04, 2021 by apost team

As Meghan Markle celebrates her 40th birthday today, we've decided to take a look back at the Duchess of Sussex's upbringing and what led her to become the actress she was well known for before she married a prince. 

Coming from a showbiz family, Meghan's childhood is one that most other residents of Los Angeles could only dream of. Born on Aug. 4, 1981, to an African-American mother, Doria Ragland, and white father, Thomas Markle, Meghan's family lived in a fairly prosperous part of the city, Canoga Park.

Thomas worked as a director of photography and lighting on the set of the hit family sitcom "Married...With Children," which aired from 1987–1997. One of the perks of her father's job was that Meghan would often find herself on television sets in her youth. In fact, her mom worked as a makeup artist on set as well, leading her parents to meet when they both worked on the soap opera "General Hospital." Despite divorcing when Meghan was just 6 years old, the two co-parented their daughter together.

Besides show business, Meghan got her first taste of another passion of hers at the tender age of 11. After witnessing a television commercial by Procter & Gamble that didn't align with her beliefs, the young girl wrote to the company and asked them to change the wording of a dishwashing soap commercial to be gender-neutral, substituting "women" to "people." Well, three months later Procter & Gamble changed the ad, leading Meghan to realize that her voice could make a difference in the world. 

Years later, Inside Edition uncovered a short clip of Meghan on "Nick News" at the time, in which she discusses her thoughts about the advertisement. She said:

“I don’t think it’s right for kids to grow up thinking these things, that just mom does everything."

Of the incident, Meghan later said, according to the BBC:

"It was at that moment that I realised the magnitude of my actions. I had created my small level of impact by standing up for equality."

At the United Nations' 2015 event that celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference of Women in Beijing, Meghan recalled the Nickelodeon clip again, as she said:

"When I was just 11 years old, I unknowingly and somehow accidentally became a female advocate ... Two boys from my class said, ‘Yeah, that’s where women belong, in the kitchen.' I remember feeling shocked and angry and also just feeling so hurt — it just wasn’t right and something needed to be done.”

The resurfacing of the old clip proves Meghan's consistency when it comes to gender equality. Even as a young girl, she was attuned to gender roles, and it just goes to show how the activism she does today is nothing new to her character. 

But another major part of her life was her love of acting, and although the future actress began to attend an all-girls school in Los Angeles known as Immaculate Heart High School, she still often found herself on film sets thanks to her father's line of work, which no doubt influenced her path in life. 

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Speaking of her time spent on set with her dad, she told Esquire in 2013:

“Every day after school for 10 years, I was on the set of "Married... with Children," which is a really funny and perverse place for a little girl in a Catholic school uniform to grow up.”

But her father knew when it wasn't appropriate for her to be watching on, as she recalled in the same interview: 

"There were a lot of times my dad would say, ‘Meg, why don’t you go and help with the craft services room over there? This is just a little off-color for your 11-year-old eyes.'"

Wishing to pursue an acting career but also higher education, Meghan noted the difficult process behind choosing to study communication at Northwestern University in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. Although she knew her passions rested in acting, she did not like the idea of being a cliched girl from Los Angeles who wanted to be an actress. Of course, she would end up being anything but a cliche.

So without letting her passions fall by the wayside, Meghan moved to Illinois to attend Northwestern in the city of Evanston. Choosing to double-major in both international relations and theater at the prestigious school, it is likely Meghan would have no idea just how influential both degrees would be over the course of her lifetime. 

In her junior year at university, Meghan worked as an intern in the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, but she always held a spark for theater and the world of acting. After completing her studies she made her way back to Hollywood and began landing auditions, leading to her infamous role on "Deal or No Deal," and the rest, as they say, is history. 

Did you know all of these facts about Meghan Markle's childhood and teenage years? If you learned something, be sure to pass this on to any royal fans you know!