Meghan Markle says she ‘always wanted a cookie cutter perfect life’

Duchess spoke to Mindy Kaling in the new episode of her podcast, ‘Archetypes’

Laura Hampson
Tuesday 06 September 2022 13:18 BST
Comments
Meghan speaks of need to belong as she addresses youth summit on UK visit

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The Duchess of Sussex has revealed that she “always wanted a cookie cutter-looking perfect life” in the latest episode of her podcast, Archetypes.

For this week’s episode, Meghan Markle interviewed actor and writer Mindy Kaling and the pair discussed their favourite childhood books.

Meghan said that she loved reading the Archie comics — and was quick to clarify that her and the Duke of Sussex’s three-year-old son Archie was not named after the series.

Meghan added: “For me, especially as my parents split up when I was only two or three years old, I always wanted this cookie cutter-looking perfect life.

“I’d look at that [the Archie comic] and they were just in this boring letterman jacket, and I’d just romanticise that. It’s all part of the things that make you have this idea of what you want your life to be like when you grow up.”

Meghan added that she always thought she was “way more Betty than Veronica”, a reference to the two main female characters in the comic series, and that she was the “smart one not the pretty one”.

“All this stuff was wrapped up in reading Archie comic books and I think it was aspirational in some ways,” she continued.

Elsewhere in the interview, Meghan revealed how she felt about people telling her she was “so lucky” the Duke of Sussex “chose her” when the pair announced their engagement in 2017.

She said: “When I started dating my husband and we became engaged, everyone was just like ‘oh my god, you’re so lucky he chose you!’

“And when you have to hear it a million times over you’re sort of like, ‘well I chose him too’. But thankfully I have a partner who was countering that narrative for me and going, ‘they’ve got it all wrong, I’m the lucky one because you chose me’.”.

Meghan also said that she received an “A” grade for planning her “dream wedding” at school.

“I remember every little thing about it. I wanted it to be at the Bel-Air Hotel,” she said.

“There was a swan lake and I wanted the cake to be from Hansen’s Bakery and the dress… oh my goodness. The dress was strapless, pouffy and I’d seen it in a bridal magazine.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in