Meghan Markle's Full Jaw-Dropping Transformation

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Amid Meghan Markle's stunning style transformation, she's undergone equally jaw-dropping life experiences. The actor has stirred people the world over through her unprecedented journey from a little girl struggling with her identity to a star of a major TV show to a Duchess. But her evolution hasn't exactly been a fairytale. Meghan has been open about the highs and lows that came with joining the British royal family (and then leaving it), as well as the hard times she's faced as a biracial woman in the unforgiving acting industry.

But Meghan has never been afraid to speak up. "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," she told Elle U.K. of her life mantra. It's safe to say she's done that through her head-turning evolution.

The Duchess of Sussex was born in Los Angeles in 1981 as Rachel Meghan Markle. Her parents, Doria Ragland and Thomas Markle, broke up when she was 2, and Meghan split her time between them. "My mother was a free-spirited clinical therapist and I had the most hard-working father, a television lighting director by trade," she told Elle U.K.

As a precursor for much of her life, Meghan didn't have the easiest time at school. "I was called the nerd: bookworm, gap in my teeth, crazy hair, peg legs. Even through high school I never fully felt as though I fit in – finding myself as a biracial girl teetering in between groups," she told Elle Canada. "I remember busying myself and being the president of every club. Not because I actually wanted to, but because I didn't want to eat alone at lunchtime. This overachiever mask I wore was really just the way I battled feeling displaced," she added. Meghan, the daughter of a Black mother and white father, also recalled being asked to fill in a questionnaire in the seventh grade that wanted her to identify as Black or white. "I didn't tick a box. I left my identity blank – a question mark, an absolute incomplete – much like how I felt," she told Elle U.K.

Though Meghan struggled with her identity, she knew the importance of hard work from a young age. She got her first job aged 13, working in her grandmother's ice cream shop. She was later employed in a donut store.

Meghan Markle headed to college in 1999, enrolling at Illinois' Northwestern University to study theater. But the young adult (who became part of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority) undertook a double major by studying international studies, too. "I knew I wanted to do acting, but I hated the idea of being this cliché—a girl from L.A. who decides to be an actress," she told Marie Claire. During her junior year, she embarked on a huge venture that broadened her horizons. "I applied for an internship at the U.S. Embassy, so I ended up working in the embassy in Buenos Aires for a few months," she said, revealing she was convinced her career would lean more into politics. 

But Meghan couldn't resist the pull of acting. "I came back to L.A. for Christmas, and a friend of mine from college introduced me to this manager. He saw a student film that I had done and said, 'You know what, you're going to make money, and I'll take 10 percent, and I think you should stick around,'" she said. And that was enough to convince Meghan to focus on her dream of a more glamorous life on screen.

Meghan Markle graduated from Northwestern in 2003 and, despite quickly landing a manager, the lucrative acting jobs didn't come thick and fast. "It was definitely a struggle," she told Marie Claire of her early journey to fame. She landed small roles on "CSI: NY," "90210," and "Knight Rider." As she recalled, "I did a pilot every single year." But the star felt her ethnicity hindered her prospects. "I wasn't Black enough for the Black roles and I wasn't white enough for the white ones, leaving me somewhere in the middle as the ethnic chameleon who couldn't book a job," she told Elle U.K.

Meghan's uphill journey to an A-list actor also included a stint as a briefcase girl on "Deal or No Deal." She dialed up the glam for the gig and wore slinky dresses, glam jewelry, and bombshell curls. On her "Archetypes" podcast, she recalled there being a specific way the models were expected to look, which included a padded bra and spray tan. "There was a woman who ran the show and ... she would go, 'Markle, suck it in! Markle, suck it in!'" the future Duchess of Sussex reflected. Meghan admitted she'd often think back to her employment in Buenos Aires while working on the game show, sharing, "I didn't like feeling forced to be all looks and little substance." Meghan also had to take on work off-screen to make ends meet. She worked at a restaurant and did calligraphy, but all that changed when she finally landed her big break.

Life changed drastically for Meghan Markle in 2011. She finally landed the regular acting gig she'd yearned for as the stylish and sultry paralegal Rachel Zane on the USA Network legal drama "Suits." Meghan underwent a physical transformation for the role, as producers asked her to polish her look following her initial audition. "They wanted more conservative, think hair pulled back and business attire ... There was no Tom Ford pencil skirt, nor a pair of Louboutins on my feet, a Prada blouse was many moons away on Rodeo Drive, and I'd had my hair blown out at DryBar because it was ... what I could afford," she recalled in a The Tig blog post (via The Tig Archives).

But that all changed when the "Suits" checks started rolling in. Ahead of the show's fifth season, Meghan told Yahoo! Style that Rachel had heavily influence on her look. "[It's] made me go outside of the box a little bit and have a better knowledge of other designers too," she said. When asked to define her style, she described it as "still that Californian girl, relaxed," but added, "I like to look polished and put together but there's always going to be an effortless quality to it, just being from L.A."

Amid her growing star power, Meghan's personal life hit a high, too. In 2011, she married her first husband, Trevor Engelson, the owner of the management and production company Underground, after six years of dating. The two wed in Jamaica in front of over 100 guests.

Meghan Markle wasn't quite an A-List star in 2013, but she was certainly on her way. "Suits" was growing in popularity ("It's crazy to finally have a pilot that has more than the longevity of one season—this is like my cup runneth over," she told Marie Claire). Meghan did multiple interviews and appeared in glam photoshoots for magazines, including Men's Health and Regard. She had big career ambitions beyond Rachel Zane, too. "I would love to do anything from a really gritty, interesting, indie-type film, to that commercial, bigger stuff," she said.

But while Meghan's career was going from strength to strength (and was snapped looking chic and put together on various red carpets), things weren't going so well behind closed doors. She secretly split with Trevor Engelson in September 2013. In the book "Meghan, A Hollywood Princess," royal biographer Andrew Morton claimed "Suits," which was filmed in Canada, may have played a part in their divorce. "Meghan, who once said she couldn't imagine life without Trevor by her side, was now building a new world for herself. As Toronto was becoming more her home than LA, the dynamics in their relationship subtly altered," he wrote (via Hello!).

Meghan Markle appeared more determined than ever to make a name for herself beyond "Suits" in 2014. She started her own blog, The Tig, in which she shared everything from fashion and beauty tips to travel insights and recipes. "What began as a passion project (my little engine that could) evolved into an amazing community of inspiration, support, fun and frivolity," Meghan wrote in a letter to fans when she closed the blog in 2021 via The Tig.

As "Suits" continued (the show entered its fourth season in 2014, with TV By The Numbers reporting the first episode pulled in 2.49 million viewers), Meghan further cemented her status as a style icon by dishing out fashion advice in interviews. "I think the most important thing you can do is tailoring. No matter what you have in your closet," she told Yahoo! Style. Meghan also took a few more fashion risks, including attending a Herve Leger fashion show in a crop top co-ord. 

Though Meghan Markle was on a steady trajectory to fame pre-2016, everything changed after Prince Harry noticed her in a social media picture shared by a mutual friend. The British royal revealed on the Netflix series "Harry & Meghan" that he reached out to their pal and asked to be introduced to Meghan. "He was just so fun, just so refreshingly fun ... We were like childlike together," Meghan said of their first date (via Harper's Bazaar). Due to the intense media attention on Harry and his family, the two enjoyed intimate, private dates early on. "We had to sort of reverse the whole process and [have] cozy nights in, in front of the television, cooking dinner with just the two of us by ourselves in our little cottage rather going out for dinner and being seen in public," Harry told BBC News. "[It] made us a hell of a lot closer in a shorter space of time." 

Only three to four weeks after their first date, Harry asked Meghan to join him on a trip to Botswana, where they got even closer. "[That] was crucial to me to make sure that we had a chance to get to know each other," he said. Not long after, their relationship was made public, and the eyes of the entire world were on her. She became the most Googled actress of 2016, and Meghan's transformation post-meeting Harry began.

By 2017, Meghan Markle was assimilating with the British royal family. She'd officially moved to London, and fans noticed a drastic change to her look. Meghan's once colorful wardrobe became less so, and she later claimed on "Harry & Meghan" that she intentionally turned to nudes and whites to avoid clashing with other royals. "You can't ever wear the same color as Her Majesty [The late Queen Elizabeth] if there's a group event. But then you also should never be wearing the same color as one of the other more senior members of the family," she said (via Town & Country). 

"It also was so I could just blend in. Like I'm not trying to stand out here ... I don't want to embarrass the family," she added (though she still fell victim to some controversial royal outfits). Meghan's more demure, sophisticated new look may also have come down to her newfound confidence. Speaking to Glamour U.K., she explained her internal transformation, "I think as you get older you feel more confident and you don't need to put that much effort in."

Her new fashion outlook may also have stemmed from her happy life with her man. The two announced their engagement in November 2017, and Meghan left "Suits" to focus on her new normal. "I don't see it as giving anything up. I just see it as a change. It's a new chapter," she told BBC News of departing the legal series. She and Harry married the following year in one of the most notorious royal weddings in recent memory, and she was officially bestowed the title "The Duchess of Sussex."

Two thousand and nineteen was another pivotal year for Meghan Markle, as she and Prince Harry became parents when they welcomed their son Archie. But, sadly, Meghan opened up about experiencing a miscarriage the following year. The star got candid in a piece for The New York Times, recalling she felt cramping while changing Archie's diaper and knew something was wrong. "I dropped to the floor with him in my arms, humming a lullaby to keep us both calm," she shared. "I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second," she added. Thankfully, in 2021, she fell pregnant again, and she and Harry welcomed daughter Lilibet that summer.

Later speaking on her "Confessions of a Female Founder" podcast, Meghan spoke candidly about how much motherhood truly meant to her. "Favorite title. Love it," she said of being called mom. "I love being a mom so much. It's my favorite thing."

Though Meghan Markle's life seemed idyllic from the outside, she's living proof that everything isn't always as it seems. By 2020, the pressures of being a working royal and the relentless spotlight had taken a toll on her, and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex confirmed they were moving away from royal life. "We intend to step back as 'senior' members of the royal family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen," they said in a statement (via CNN), confirming they'd be splitting time between North America and the U.K. The two also had other big plans for life away from the royals, as they signed deals with several major companies, including Spotify and Netflix.

The following year, the couple sat down with Oprah Winfrey for one of the most bombshell royal interviews in history. Meghan opened up about what life in the British royal family was really like for her, sharing that she experienced suicidal thoughts due to intense attention from the media and public. "I was really ashamed to say it at the time and ashamed to have to admit it to Harry ... I knew that if I didn't say it, then I would do it," she said (via NBC News). "I just didn't want to be alive anymore."

After stepping away from royal duties, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry didn't exactly retreat into anonymity. Meghan published her first children's book in 2021, titled "The Bench", under the name "Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex." They then gave fans a peek inside their new lives as parents of two, finding their footing away from the royal family via their Netflix docuseries, "Harry & Meghan." The first instalment had Netflix's biggest documentary debut week ever, with the streamer confirming 28 million households watched at least part of the series (via People).

We also saw a physical change in the former royal around 2021. The duchess gave us a physical representation of how it felt to be free from the monarchy, as Meghan began wearing some spicy outfits she never could have worn as a royal. That included the plunging, fire-engine red dress with a long gown she sported for that year's Freedom Gala (which was far from the muted shades and conservative pieces she gravitated toward in the U.K.) Meghan slayed in neutral monochrome looks, too, as she demonstrated a more grown-up, sophisticated style.

Meghan Markle returned to sharing lifestyle tips in 2024. She launched her lifestyle brand, As Ever, which sold everything from preserves to wines to candles. The businesswoman announced the venture via Instagram in a casual, loose white button-down shirt with rolled-up sleeves, partly tucked into her blue jeans, showing her more down-to-earth side.

The following year, she bolstered her new career as a lifestyle guru via her Netflix series "With Love, Meghan." Meghan invited fans into her kitchen and shared her favorite dishes and ways to entertain. At the time of writing, a third season hasn't been confirmed, though a source told People in early 2026, "[Meghan] is really focused on building the brand. She's excited to continue creating cooking and crafting content for her social channels, but in a way that allows for her to spend more time on the day-to-day of the business." Also, her focus? Returning to acting. She landed a cameo in the movie "Close Personal Friends."

Meghan's style wasn't making so much positive noise. In 2025, she attended Paris Fashion Week in Balenciaga. Meghan's outfits proved the royals weren't to blame for her lack of creativity, as she gravitated again toward muted colors and conservative cuts. However, she could be gearing up for her biggest physical overhaul yet. A source told Rob Schuter in February 2026 that Meghan is planning a triumphant return to the U.K. — and she'll take a high-fashion wardrobe with her. An insider purported the Duchess of Sussex has been working with major fashion houses and stylists, claiming, "[She's creating] the best wardrobe ever seen on a British royal." They added, "She's not going back quietly."