Meghan Markle laughs about her acting career in surprise Ellen Show appearance

Duchess of Sussex spoke with Ellen DeGeneres for Thursday episode

Meghan Markle has reflected on her acting career while appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show for her first daytime talk show appearance since marrying Prince Harry.

The Duchess of Sussex spoke with DeGeneres for Thursday’s episode, with a preview clip released Wednesday showing the pair discussing the former Suits star’s life as an actor.

During the conversation, the duchess recalled how she used to visit the same Warner Bros lot when she was going on auditions, telling DeGeneres: “The security guards would always say: ‘Break a leg! We hope you get it!’ So the drive in today was very different.”

However, according to Meghan, who appeared on the talk show in a white long-sleeved blouse and black pants, the security guards “probably said it to everybody”, as she noted: “That’s how nice they were.”

While reminiscing about her time as a Hollywood actor, Meghan also reflected on the car that she used to drive to auditions, with the duchess revealing that she had a “very, very old Ford Explorer Sport” that had a “life of its own”.

“And, at a certain point, the key stopped working on the driver’s side, so you couldn’t get yourself in through the door, so after auditions – I would park at the back of the parking lot – and I would open the trunk and climb in, and then pull it shut behind me, and crawl over all my seats to get out,” the duchess recalled while laughing. “That’s how I would come to and fro.”

As for whether anyone ever spotted Meghan climbing out of her car, the mother-of-two revealed that she would “play it off” by pretending to look for items such as her resume or a script.

The duchess’s appearance on the show marks the first time that she has appeared on a daytime talk show since she became a member of the royal family in 2018.

However, this isn’t Meghan’s first interaction with the talk-show host, who is also her and Prince Harry’s neighbour, as the 40-year-old royal previously revealed that DeGeneres was the one who convinced her to adopt her rescue dog Bogart.

The duchess recounted the encounter in an interview with Best Health in 2017, during which she’d recalled how she’d been in an animal shelter in Los Angeles sitting with the lab/shepherd mix when DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi had walked in.

“Now, I don’t now her, but Ellen goes: ‘Is that your dog?’ And I said: ‘No,’ and she’s like: ‘You have to take that dog.’ And I said: ‘Well, I’m deciding.’ And she’s like: ‘Rescue the dog!’” Meghan recalled.

According to the former actor, the experience was “sort of like if Oprah tells you to do something,” with Meghan explaining how DeGeneres had then asked her whether she had thought of a name for the dog yet.

“I’m sitting there holding him and she’s like: ‘Have you thought of a name for him yet?’ And I said: ‘Well, I think I’d name him Bogart,’ and she’s like: ‘You’re taking the dog home.’ And she walks outside to get into her car but instead of getting in she turns around and comes and taps on the window glass and she yells: ‘Take the dog!’ And so I brought him home. Because Ellen told me to,” the duchess said.

As for what it is like to be neighbours in the Montecito neighbourhood where they both live, along with fellow celebrities including Oprah and Rob Lowe, DeGeneres previously told Access Hollywood’s Mario Lopez that the royal couple put the Santa Barbara town “on the map”.

“Because everybody was like: ‘Oh god they could live anywhere! What’s Montecito?’ And everybody started looking into Montecito,” DeGeneres recalled of the couple’s decision to relocate to California in July 2020.