Meghan Markle on Suits - Sex scenes 'upsetting' Prince Harry, royal family 'strict rule' and when she decided to leave
The Firm reportedly requested script approval for the future DuchessBefore meeting the Duke of Sussex, Meghan Markle was already known for her role as Rachel Zane in the hit series Suits. The TV show aired its final season in 2019, however, Meghan decided to leave after getting engaged to Prince Harry.
The Duchess of Sussex played Rachel, a paralegal who was on a journey to become a lawyer but struggled with the bar exam. Rachel and associate Mike Ross – played by Patrick J Adams – work together in the show. Over the years they grow closer, before they get married in the finale of season 7. At the time of filming, Meghan was actually planning to get married herself, to a Prince.
Meghan Markle has been open about her time on the show and admitting how she felt when she did finally leave Suits.
‘The worst audition she ever did’
While speaking to Larry King back in 2013, Meghan admitted she didn’t feel great after the audition.
She said: “I had gone and auditioned and thought it was one of the worst auditions I had ever done.
“I didn’t realise that, behind closed doors, they disagreed with me on that fact and brought me back to test for it.”
The fear sparked symptoms of imposter syndrome, thinking she wasn’t good enough for the role, and she’d get the cut.
Meghan later admitted to Variety in 2022 she spent most of the first series in doubt.
“For me, I had tried for so long to land on a show, filming all these pilots, wondering if they would get picked up,” she said. “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?””
But as time went on, she was grateful for how the show went on for seven seasons.
Speaking of her character on Suits, Meghan Markle said she was “so happy”.
The actress added: “She’s worked so hard, and I love that, as a role model, how she’s been crafted to balance it all and now have this place at the firm where she really knows her standing, and her office isn’t just because she’s a good researcher, it’s because she’s an associate.”
The Duchess of Sussex bonded with the cast from day one
Meghan Markle was over the moon that Suits was as successful as it was, after many of her previous shows failed to get past the pilot.
In 2017, she told Glamour UK: “I’ve done so many pilots that have never saw the light of day and we didn’t know what Suits was going to become at the time. So it’s been such a good transition!”
While celebrating the 100th episode the same year, she explained thecast worked and lived together in the same housing area. It brought them closer than ever.
During a panel at the ATX Television festival she admitted: “We just became this whole family right out of the gate”.
She also said: “We were in a group email the other day, and I was saying we’d all lived in the same corporate housing — so on top of working together, we were living together — which makes a whole different dynamic, I think.”
Two years earlier, she admitted working with attractive actors was a benefit of her career in television.
Speaking to Yahoo Live, she was asked what it was like to have “hot guys with you all the time” and she laughed: “I mean, how do you even answer that? Absolutely not. It’s one of the job perks, right?”
Prince Harry admitted he Google’d Meghan Markle’s sex scenes in Suits (Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images)
Meghan Markle’s Suits sex scene made Harry ‘miserable’
During her interview with Larry King, Meghan Markle also spoke about the chemistry on screen between Rachel and Mike.
The mum-of-two explained: “I really do think, like, the sexiness of the show and the intrigue of the show is the fact that these characters are so layered and, and people really relate to them.
“They know someone or they want to know someone like they see on that show. So I think that’s what brings people back. And then the New York of it all is pretty enticing.”
But after Prince Harry stumbled upon Meghan’s Instagram and they began dating, he didn’t like watching Markle’s sex scenes on Suits.
Read more: 10 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle PDA moments that made us believe in love again
In his memoir Spare, the 40-year-old admitted he wanted to erase it from his memory.
He recalls watching the finale of season two and had quite an intense reaction.
“I’d witnessed her [Meghan] and a castmate mauling each other in some sort of office or conference room,” he wrote about Meghan Markle’s sex scene in Suits. Before adding: “I didn’t need to see such things live.”
Harry also said he felt like he needed “electric shock therapy” to forget the scene.
Meghan Markle’s character Rachel Zane ended up dating Mike Ross in Suits (Credit: Peacock/YouTube)
When did Meghan Markle leave suits?
Her final scene aired on the season 7 finale, which aired in 2018, where she married Mike Ross. The characters moved to Seattle in the script.
The news of her departure was announced via Twitter in November 2017. It came a day after her engagement to Prince Harry was revealed. Her final scene was aired less than a month before she tied the knot with the Duke of Sussex.
In a joint interview with Prince Harry for their engagement, Meghan Markle explained she didn’t see it as giving something up when she did leave Suits.
The Duchess of Sussex left the series in 2017 (Credit: Peacock/YouTube)
“I don’t see it as giving anything up,” Meghan said. “I just see it as a change. It’s a new chapter, right? And also, keep in mind, I’ve been working on [Suits] for seven years. We were very, very fortunate to have that sort of longevity on a series.”
“I’ve ticked this box, and I feel very proud of the work I’ve done there, and now it’s time to work with [Prince Harry] as a team.
“I think what’s been really exciting as we talk about the transition out of my career and into my role is the causes that are really important to me that I can focus even more energy on.”
The series actually continued for two more seasons and wrapped up in 2019 – but Meghan didn’t watch them.
Prince Harry said he wanted ‘electric shock therapy’ after seeing Meghan’s raunchy scenes in the series (Credit: INSTARimages)
Royal family’s ‘strict rule’ for Meghan Markle’s final scenes on Suits
In the final episode of the hit TV show, Rachel, played by Meghan married long-time love interest Mike Ross.
As Meghan was about to join the royal family, they apparently had some strict rules for her final scenes. This included her wedding dress, author Tom Bower claims, in his book, Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the war between the Windsors.
The author claims all Suit scripts had to be sent to Kensington Palace for approval.
“Aaron Kosh was told to submit all future Suits scripts to Nick Collins, Meghan’s agent,” he writes.
“Scripts were thereafter forwarded to Kensington Palace for approval. Orders for changes of words were sent back from London to Los Angeles,” he wrote.
However, the author writes that the most important demand was in her very last scene, her wedding to Mike.
The palace reportedly ordered no photographs to be shot of Meghan in her wedding dress. They also said “between filming, she was always to wear a jacket over the dress.”
Meghan’s fictional wedding dress was vastly different to the one she wore at her royal wedding. In the show, she wore a sleeveless floral number.
In real life, she wore a more plain, long-sleeved dress, which a huge veil. It was designed by British fashion designer Clare Waight Keller, artistic director of the fashion house Givenchy.
Meghan and Harry married in 2018 (Credit: SplashNews.com)
Suits cast members attended Meghan and Harry’s wedding
In 2018, when she married Prince Harry, many of her co-stars attended the big day. They travelled over to St George’s Chapel to watch the special moment they said ‘I do’.
This included Patrick J Adams, Sarah Rafferty, Gabriel Macht, Abigail Spencer, Rick Hoffman and Gina Torres.
In fact, Meghan is still close friends with Abigail. She appeared on the Duchess’ Netflix cooking show, With Love, Meghan.
However, her cast mate Rick Hoffman said during an interview in 2024 there was a ‘foul smell’ during the ceremony.
The actor went viral in 2018 after a photo of him with a disgusted expression was shared on social media. Speaking on the Chicks in the Office podcast, he explained why he pulled that face.
He was trying to keep his nerves at bay due to the high number of cameras in the chapel.
“And then as time goes on, I’m starting to smell something really terrible and foul,” Rick said. He explained he is “very sensitive” to smells, and covered his nose so he could smell his moisturiser.
Read more: All the celebrities who have ‘distanced’ themselves from Harry and Meghan
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