Once upon a time, Meghan Markle was a TV actress who worked on a successful show and ran a popular lifestyle blog called The Tig on the side. In her adopted home of Toronto, Canada — where Suits filmed for seven seasons — she spent most of her time hanging out with her castmates, practicing yoga and taking her beagle, Guy, for walks. Then she met Prince Harry.
The pair wed in May 2018 and welcomed son Archie the following year. Meghan had found her Prince Charming, but life behind palace doors was no fairy tale. There was tension with Prince William and Princess Kate, and Meghan took a beating in the U.K. press. “You’re established in one world and then you enter another and your narrative is dictated by external forces,” a family friend shares in the latest issue of Us Weekly. Amid intense backlash, Meghan, 43, and Harry, 39, left the U.K. in early 2020. They eventually landed in scenic Montecito, California (they purchased their $14 million mansion in July 2020), and had their second child, daughter Lilibet, in June 2021.
While trying to process the events of the previous few years, she and Harry spoke candidly about some of the trauma they say they faced within the monarchy, first in a March 2021 bombshell TV sit-down and again in their hit 2022 Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan. Harry covered similar ground in his more expansive 2023 memoir, Spare. Meanwhile, Meghan shared additional revelations about royal life on her Spotify podcast, “Archetypes,” until mutually parting ways with the streaming giant in June 2023.
She briefly appeared to take a breather. But in recent months, Meghan’s been back in the game full throttle. She’s set to launch her lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, and her new Netflix series, centered around cooking, entertaining and gardening, has finished filming. In July, she joined a slew of Hollywood heavyweights, including Reese Witherspoon and Gwyneth Paltrow, at the Hamptons home of power broker Amy Griffin for a one-day business summit. “Meghan was there to network,” says an insider. “She was very kind and humble and eager to learn.”
She’s been busy with philanthropic endeavors, too. In August, Meghan and Harry sat down with CBS News to discuss their new campaign, The Parents’ Network, which aims to protect kids from online harm. Two weeks later, they wrapped up a four-day visit to Colombia, marking their second international tour of the year following their May trip to Nigeria. “[I’m] looking at this as my chapter of joy,” Meghan said while attending an August 18 panel.
“Meghan has transitioned from actress to royal to entrepreneur,” says a second insider. “She’s worn many hats, but she believes age and experience have [prepared her] for a bigger purpose in life. She’s very happy with the role she’s carved out.”
Here, Us talks to insiders close to Harry and Meghan about how she’s boldly stepping into her next act.
1. Letting Go of the Past
It’s taken some time for Meghan to process everything that happened after she married into the royal family. She’s been candid about her struggles to fit in within The Firm — she and Kate famously fell out following a disagreement over Princess Charlotte’s flower girl dress in the days leading up to the Sussexes’ 2018 wedding — and how affected she was by attacks on her in the British media. “I believe part of our healing journey, certainly part of mine, is being able to be really open about it,” she said in her CBS News interview.
Now she’s ready to look forward. “After Spare, [Harry and Meghan] realized, ‘OK, we’re ready to move on. We want to focus on our future,’” the family friend tells Us. “‘We can have meaning and importance separate from the lives we had previously.’”
That means not holding grudges. “So much of how I approach things is less about the fight,” she said during the August 18 summit in Colombia, “and more about how do we show up in the space and wash things over with love and kindness and generosity.” Adds the family friend: “Meghan doesn’t harbor any negative feelings. She just wants peace, and knows you can’t find peace if you harbor resentments.”
In March, after Kate revealed her cancer diagnosis, Meghan and Harry released a statement saying, “We wish health and healing for Kate and the family, and hope they are able to do so privately and in peace.” The family friend says they are otherwise moving on from royal headlines. “Meghan’s team gets asked daily to comment on stuff that has nothing to do with their lives now. They have left it behind.”
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2. Embracing Her Inner Circle
A source close to the Sussexes says Meghan “has a great group of friends who are all successful in their own ways who she really trusts.” In addition to famous pals like Serena Williams and Ellen DeGeneres, she has a group of local moms she sees regularly. The first insider says the duchess has become “very close” with neighbor and Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, and a second source says she’s tight with entrepreneur Jamie Kern Lima, cofounder of IT Cosmetics.
Harry, meanwhile, “has a small [group] of close friends,” says the second source, noting that he keeps his inner circle tight for “understandable reasons.” Moving from the U.K. has been an adjustment for Harry, though he’s come to love his situation in the States. “He’ll always be fond of his home country, but the way he views it, his wife and kids are his priority. If that means making sure they’re safe and happy in Montecito, then he supports that.”
3. Focusing on Family
“Being a mom is the most important thing in my entire life,” Meghan gushed last October during a World Mental Health Day event. The family friend says Meghan and Harry are hands-on parents to Archie and Lilibet and want them to have normal childhoods: “They take the kids to school, they pick them up, and they are very active and present with them throughout the day.”
The friend says that the Sussexes keep Archie and Lilibet out of the spotlight for their own safety. “I think every parent wants to share their kid with the world, but they just can’t,” explains the friend, referencing Harry’s battle for enhanced security in the U.K. “William’s kids, for example, have way more safety, even though they’re recognizable. And the same doesn’t apply to Meghan and Harry’s children. They know the world wants to see [them but] I would expect them to live smaller lives until that gets sorted, if it ever does.”
As for explaining their royal heritage to the kids, “they’ll have those conversations in due time,” says the friend, noting that they want Archie and Lilibet to be loved for who they are as individuals. “They’re so well-mannered. Archie is sweet and curious and playful, and Lili is vibrant and happy.” During the August 18 panel in Colombia, Meghan proudly declared that “at 3, [Lilibet] has found her voice.”
According to the second source, Meghan and Harry are happy as parents of two as they continue to work with their Archewell foundation and focus on launching their business ventures. “Afterwards who’s to say?” adds the source. “But I think the focus is very much on raising their two children.”
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Relationship Timeline
4. Protecting Her Peace
As she continues forging ahead with her life, Meghan wants to surround herself with people who have her best interests at heart. Her estranged father, Thomas, doesn’t fit the bill. The former lighting director famously staged paparazzi photos for a British tabloid back in 2018; he’s since publicly apologized, but there’s no going back for Meghan, who said in 2021: “I genuinely can’t imagine doing anything to intentionally cause pain to my child. So it’s hard for me to reconcile that.” Says the first insider: “Meghan still has no contact with her dad. She does not plan on having a relationship with him, and he has not met his grandkids. That ship has sailed.”
Harry remains a constant source of support. “They’re so in sync,” adds the friend. “Throughout their relationship, they’ve stood together no matter what.” The second source says that enjoying downtime as a couple is how they maintain a positive mindset and stay motivated to do their best work: “It’s rooted in the bonds they share together.”
The Sussexes enjoy the pace of Montecito, where there’s an element of privacy and they’re able to live a relatively normal life compared to what they faced in the U.K. Still, they prefer keeping things low-key: Meghan tends to her garden and the pair hit the hiking trails and cook together. Adds the second source: “It’s a California lifestyle.”
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5. Finding Joy in Her Work
There’s not much time to dwell on the past when you’ve got work to do. Meghan and Harry — who started their Archewell foundation in October 2020 — are happy to focus on “projects they are passionate about as opposed to being given projects to do,” says the second insider. “Their work is more personal.” In addition to The Parents’ Network, Meghan is dedicated to her Welcome Project, which helps empower female refugees from Afghanistan. “Female advocacy remains a centerpiece of her philanthropic intent,” says a third source who’s worked with Meghan.
She couldn’t be more excited about ARO, which sources tell Us is likely to launch around her Netflix series, which reportedly will be released early next year. “[ARO] will likely be very much in line with who Meghan is as a person,” says the second source. “She loves hosting events, and she’s very thoughtful about how she treats her guests whenever they come over.” In April, celeb pals like Kris Jenner, Chrissy Teigen, Mindy Kaling, Garcelle Beauvais and Tracee Ellis Ross got a sneak peek when Meghan sent them the first taste of the brand: jars of strawberry jam nestled inside baskets of fresh lemons.
Her Netflix series “is going to be a take on her and the joy of living,” reveals the third source, adding that the show will include “little things she’s learned in terms of being a modern-day hostess.” There are rumors of cameos from Harry, and the source promises fans can expect to see familiar faces from pop culture to culinary to beauty.
Not currently on the duchess’ radar: running for office, returning to acting or writing a memoir. Adds the third source: “Meghan’s in the middle of her story right now.”
6. Adopting an Attitude of Gratitude
“If you’re going to be grateful for your life, you have to be grateful for all aspects of it — the parts that were opportunities of growth and may have felt really difficult, as well as the parts that feel joyful and full,” Meghan said during an onstage conversation in Colombia. The former actress understands she’s been given a rare opportunity. “She knows her life would be extraordinarily different if she did not marry who she married,” explains the family friend. There is privilege and so much room to do good. She wants to meet the moment and make good on her good fortune.”
Meghan Markle Through the Years
7. Being Herself
Meghan’s been candid about her struggles to fit in with Harry’s family and the stuffiness of the monarchy. “I started to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside,” she said in 2021 of her attempts to hug Kate and William when they first met. The friend notes it was challenging for Meghan to “be herself” in the royal household. “Most people are not really allowed to be themselves — if you’ve watched The Crown, I think that’s pretty understood.”
Now she can be whoever she wants. “There’s air and space and room,” explains the family friend. “She can just be who she is.” As Meghan herself said in Colombia on August 18: “There’s something so liberating about being able to be yourself and be comfortable in your skin and be surrounded in a space that is excited to see you exactly the way that you are.”
For more on Meghan, watch the exclusive video above and pick up the latest issue of Us Weekly — on newsstands now.
With reporting by Travis Cronin & Andrea Simpson
