Meghan Markle’s whole life is kind of like a Hallmark movie come true. Even though she likely didn’t imagine she’d be the one marrying Harry back in the day, this year brought her a royal wedding and a royal baby announcement. It’s no surprise why so many people are obsessed with learning everything they can about her. The fact that she’s been open about her love of boxed mac and cheese and pasta makes her even more relatable. But surprisingly, those foods aren’t the ones she used to go to for comfort.
Back in 2015, Markle wrote her own piece for Darling magazine titled “It’s All Enough.” In it, she highlighted how stressful it was going on auditions when she didn’t have much keeping her going. While she now has a driver, back in the day she had a beat-up Ford Explorer Sport that she had to enter through the trunk.
“I didn’t have the luxury to cave; I had invested so much in this dream of being an actress, and I promised myself ‘not to give it five minutes if I wasn’t going to give it five years,'” Markle wrote. “So I would drive to auditions and park at the back of the parking lot, far from the eyes of anyone who could see me unlocking the trunk and crawling into my car through its only feasible entry point.”
Markle later mentions how grueling the procedure was, and how common rejections were. And then she states something that each and every one of us could relate to — she got through it all with grilled cheese and cheap wine. Surprise! Meghan eats cheese and comfort food just like the rest of us do.
Those are two foods that pretty much symbolized Markle’s struggle in the acting world before finally landing a role on a show that’d continue on for multiple seasons.
In 2011, Markle landed the role of Rachel Zane in Suits and appeared in 108 episodes prior to marrying Prince Harry.
These days, she probably doesn’t eat grilled cheese half as much as she did back when she was starting out. Sure, it’s not the most nutritious food in the world, but it was cheap and filling, and kinda-sorta the perfect solution to a bad day.
Markle didn’t specify if she accompanied her grilled cheese dinners with a bowl of tomato soup, but that’s a delicious combo she’s hopefully aware of.
The wine is also relatable. Markle has never hidden the fact that she’s a red wine fan, even naming her now-defunct lifestyle blog, The Tig, after Tignanello wine. Long story short, she took her first sip of Tignanello and it blew her mind.
“So there I am, with very minimal wine knowledge and I take a sip of this wine,” Markle wrote back in the day on The Tig. “Suddenly I understood what people meant by the body, the legs, structure of wine.” Per Bustle, it was more or less her “a-ha” moment, which she’s been referring to as “Tig” moments from that point. Who knew the first taste of the stuff would inspire an entire website?
Of course, back in the day, it wasn’t Tig — bottles of the popular wine usually retail for over $100, and it’s likely that a young Markle wasn’t looking to splurge at that time in her life. It was likely something a bit cheaper.
But, back to the grilled cheese. Fans of Markle are pretty happy that this piece was rediscovered. For one, it’s just way too relatable.
do you think meghan markle eats a grilled cheese sandwich at least once a week? asking for a friend...
— Sarah (@smmeneel) November 27, 2017
But secondly, it’s a reminder that lives can literally change overnight. Just think — if Markle gave up after that second week of wine and grilled cheese, her life would have turned out completely different. She likely never would have made the connections that led her to Prince Harry.
So if you’re in a similar situation, just remember — this is the same dinner that Meghan Markle ate after plenty of rejections.
The perfect grilled cheese that will make a bad day better:
And now, she’s not only known for being the Duchess of Sussex. She’s also known as being a talented actress and an innovative foodie who knows a thing or two about a good meal.
