Before Meghan Markle became the Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry’s wife, a former ESPN host had his sights set on her. Ryen Russillo, who once hosted for ESPN, revealed that he tried to woo Meghan after they met during a celebrity flag football game.
However, his attempts were not successful. According to UsWeekly, Russillo, now 49, shared his story on The Bill Simmons podcast, saying: “We played in a celebrity flag football game together and it was all of the [Sports Illustrated] swimsuit models. So, nobody was really paying any attention to Markle.”
The game included several celebrities such as Nina Dobrev from The Vampire Diaries, Black Panther’s Michael B Jordan, and Sports Illustrated models like Chrissy Teigen, Nina Agdal and Hannah Davis. Meghan was among these famous faces, Russillo recalled. “I was like, ‘That’s my lane. She’s probably doubting herself a little bit right now.’ She’s never been more obtainable.”
This event happened just before the premiere of Suits season 4 and about two years before Meghan began dating Prince Harry.
After the game, Russillo decided to take a chance and sent Meghan a cheeky direct message.
Russillo shared, “It was a very soft sell,” and went on to detail the interaction, mentioning, “It was, ‘Hey, I know the new season of Suits is coming out if you ever want to come on the show to promote it.’ It was really professional.”
Nonetheless, despite the straightforward invitation, he conceded that there was another intention, confessing: “It was like a gauging of interest,” noting further, “Like, if I got an emoji back, who knows? ” The response from Meghan to his DM was not as enthusiastic as Russillo might have wished. He recounted Meghan’s reaction as “It was ice cold,” remembering how she replied, “It was, ‘Oh, I don’t know anything about sports, but thanks for the offer.'” Summing up the exchange, Russillo concluded, “It didn’t work out.”
The story took a positive turn though, as the same celebrity football game led to a meaningful connection for Meghan, who established a deep bond with tennis star Serena Williams at the event.
Recalling the moment, Meghan expressed on her blog The Tig in August 2014, “When Serena Williams barrelled in my direction this past February at an event, nails done, hair done, everything did, I’ll be honest and say I looked behind me to see who she was running to. It was Serena Williams, after all,”.
Markle went on to say: “We hit it off immediately, taking pictures, laughing through the flag football game we were both playing in, and chatting not about tennis or acting, but about all the good old fashioned girly stuff. So began our friendship. She quickly became a confidante I would text when I was traveling, the friend I would rally around for her tennis matches, and the down to earth chick I was able to grab lunch with just a couple weeks ago in Toronto.”