Meghan Markle has opened up about her personal experiences of racism and detailed what she hopes the world will be like for her children.
In a newly-surfaced anti-racism campaign video from US charity Erase The Hate in 2012, the then Suits star spoke about the racial slurs she’s heard over the years and chronicles the fact that her mother, Doria Ragland, has been called the ‘n word.’
'For me I think it hits a really personal note,’ she recalled of her experiences of racist discrimination.
‘I'm biracial, most people can't tell what I'm mixed with and so much of my life has felt like being a fly on the wall.’
The former actress continued, explaining that she’s heard several slurs about race and ‘really offensive jokes’ which have hit her ‘in a really strong way’ over the years.
'A couple of years ago I heard someone call my mum the “n word”,’ she said.
'So I think for me beyond being personally affected by racism, to see the landscape of what our country is like right now and certainly the world and to want things to be better.'
The 38-year-old, whose father Thomas Markle is white Caucasian and mother Ragland is African American, also spoke of her hopes for her future children, revealing that she wanted the world to be more accepting of different races by the time they were born.
'I am really proud of my heritage on both sides, I'm really proud of where I've come from and where I'm coming,’ the star said, wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase ‘I won’t stand for racism’.
'But I hope by the time I have children that people are even more open-minded to how things are changing and that having a mixed world is what it's all about.
'Certainly it makes it a lot more beautiful and a lot more interesting.'
Markle – who began dating Prince Harry in 2016 before marrying in Windsor in 2018 – previously wrote about feeling like an ‘other’ for ELLE.
In her essay, she described a situation she experienced as a child when a teacher told her to check a box on a form for Caucasian.
Markle recalled the woman told her: ‘Because that's how you look, Meghan,' she said.
‘I put down my pen. Not as an act of defiance, but rather a symptom of my confusion. I couldn't bring myself to do that, to picture the pit-in-her-belly sadness my mother would feel if she were to find out. So, I didn't tick a box. I left my identity blank – a question mark, an absolute incomplete – much like how I felt.’
Opening up about the racism she’s faced over the years, Meghan added in the video: 'Certain people don't look at me and see me as a black woman or a biracial woman.
'They treat me differently I think than they would if they knew what I was mixed with.'
'That can be a struggle as much as it can be a good thing depending on the people you are dealing with.'
The video’s resurfacing comes months after Prince Harry made a public statement about his wife becoming a ‘victim’ of tabloid press and her best friend, Jessica Mulroney, called out ‘racist bullies’ who vilify the Duchess.
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Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
