The Duchess of Sussex has revealed that she felt like the “ugly duckling” growing up and that she was a “little bit of a loner” in school.
Meghan Markle opened up about her school life while speaking to Mindy Kaling for the latest episode of her podcast, Archetypes.
As the Never Have I Ever creator discussed feeling “ugly, overweight and othered” as a child, and that she wants her four-year-old daughter to feel “beautiful” every day, Meghan confessed that she had a similar experience.
To Kaling’s surprise, Meghan said she was the “ugly duckling” in school.
“Were you not the pretty one? Kaling said. “That is news to me.”
“No, God no, no. Ugly duckling,” Meghan said. “Maybe not conventional beauty, now maybe it might be seen as beautiful, but I had massive frizzy curly hair and a huge gap in my teeth.”
Meghan added: “No, I was the smart one, forever and ever and ever. And then I sort of just grew up.”
Expressing her shock, Kaling said she had always assumed “Meghan Markle was the one hot girl who had her head screwed on”.
Recalling the “really hard time”, Meghan said she turned her attention to academic success as a distraction.
“I never had anyone to sit with at lunch, I was always a little bit of a loner and really shy and didn’t know where I fit in,” Meghan said.
She explained: “So I was like, OK I’ll become president of multicultural club and the president of sophomore class and president of French club, and by doing that I had meetings at lunch time so I didn’t have to worry about what who I would sit with or what I would do, because I was always so busy.”
Elsewhere in the episode, the Duchess revealed she planned her “dream wedding” at the age of 14.
“I remember every little thing about it. I wanted it to be at the Bel-Air Hotel,” Meghan 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.”
