Celebrity
Meghan Markle says she was rejected due to her ‘freckles’ and being ‘mixed race’ early on in her acting career
The Duchess of Sussex has reflected on the rejections she faced during the early years of her acting career.
Meghan spoke about her experiences during the latest episode of her podcast Confessions of a Female Founder with guest Jamie Kern Lima.
The two friends reminisced about the hurdles they faced starting their businesses, Meghan’s As ever product range and Kern Lima’s cosmetics range IT Cosmetics.
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Kern Lima spoke of the challenges she faced while finding an investor for her brand, a cosmetic line that helped cover her skin condition rosacea. Despite years of rejections, which brought her to the brink of bankruptcy, Kern Lima eventually found success and in 2016 she sold her company to L’Oréal for US $1.2 billion ($2.5 billion).
Meghan likened Kern Lima’s difficult road to success to the early days of her acting career when she was auditioning for commercials and ahead of being cast on the hit TV series Suits.
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She spoke of the rejections she would face at castings due to both her “freckles” and being “mixed race”.
“And I remember my commercial agent could not submit me for beauty or skincare ads because I had freckles,” Meghan shared. “They’re like, no, no, no, no, it’s just never going to work because freckles aren’t a sign of beauty.”
Meghan later spoke of being rejected for acting roles.
“Oh, Jamie. As you’re talking about all these nos for me, it’s what I was doing before I was acting,” Meghan said.
“Oh my gosh. Oh, please. I heard no all the time, especially because I wasn’t cookie-cutter for a specific type,” the duchess continued.
“At the start of my auditioning career, you were either the Black girl or the White girl or the Latina girl or the like, everything was typecast,” Meghan explained.
“So being mixed, I could get into a lot of rooms. That meant as a numbers game, heard no even more.”
The Duchess of Sussex would eventually star in Suits for seven seasons before retiring from her acting career ahead of her marriage to Prince Harry in 2018.
Meghan’s podcast episode with Jamie Kern Lima comes a day after the release of the royal’s first podcast interview on Kern Lima’s podcast The Jamie Kern Lima Show.
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In this episode the pair reflected on their friendship, having forged a strong bond after becoming neighbours.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved from the UK to Montecito in the US after resigning as senior working royals in January 2020.
The royal couple now count many high-profile people as friends including Kern Lima, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Oprah Winfrey.
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Since relocating to the US, Harry and Meghan have embarked on a series of private ventures, the latest of which include Meghan’s Netflix series With Love, Meghan and product range As ever, as well as her podcast Confessions of a Female Founder.
Season two of With Love, Meghan, is due to be released later this year.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are parents to Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three, both of whom have made more regular appearances on social media and in the Netflix series, albeit with their backs to the cameras.
The royal couple always has the safety of their family as a priority.
Prince Harry continues to fight in court for police protection in the UK for his family which was removed when the couple resigned from the British monarchy.
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