Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are fast approaching their six-year wedding anniversary but some royal fans may be surprised to learn that the former Suits actress was actually married for two years to another man before she met the Duke of Sussex.
The 43-year-old duchess’ first husband was American film producer and talent agent Trevor Engelson who she tied the knot with in September 2011 during a ceremony in Ocho Rios, Jamaica after eight years of dating.
However, things did not work out between the pair as they reportedly struggled with their long-distance relationship which saw Meghan filming in Toronto for the US legal drama Suits while Trevor was based in California.
This led to their separation which came just over two years after their wedding vows in July 2013. Their no-fault divorce was finalised in 2014 and the former couple cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the marriage breakdown.
However, Meghan’s ex-husband has now opened up about his marriage with the now mum-of-two, saying she left him feeling like “a piece of something stuck to the bottom of her shoe.”
Royal biographer Andrew Morton wrote in his book Meghan: A Hollywood Princess, that Meghan had sent her diamond engagement and wedding ring back to her estranged husband in the mail.
This cold move is said to have surprised the talent agent who could “barely contain his anger” at the gesture.
The royal expert penned that a friend of Trevor’s said he had went from cherishing Meghan to “feeling like he was a piece of something stuck to the bottom of her shoe.”
Meghan’s former best friend and maid of honour at the wedding, Ninaki Priddy, also revealed that she no longer wanted to “associate herself” with the then-actress after she had learned what happened between her and Trevor.
Ninaki told The Express : “The way she handled it, Trevor definitely had the rug pulled out from under him. He was hurt.”
Abby Wathan, who is another one of Meghan’s pals that worked with her on the film Random Encounters, told the ITV documentary Prince Harry and Meghan: Truly Madly Deeply: “We both went through a divorce so we bonded over that.
“I was destroyed but she was empowered. She took her power back. It wasn’t the right relationship for her, so she moved on.”
The news comes as Meghan Markle’s estranged father recently took a swipe at the Sussexes’ as he claimed Meghan should never have left her first husband Trevor who he claims to have “really liked”.
In conversation with MailOnline, he expressed his fondness for Meghan’s former spouse, film producer Trevor Engelson, admitting, “I really liked Trevor. I don’t think he ever understood why she dumped him either.”
The 80-year-old former film lighting director recently weighed in on his daughter’s life as she gets ready for her latest ‘career relaunch’ with her upcoming Netflix TV show set to go live on the platform on Tuesday March 4.
The Record recently reported that Thomas Markle is said to be planning a move far across the globe with one of his sons to avoid the “awful drama” associated with being Meghan’s father.
Thomas shares Meghan with her mother Doria Ragland, who she shares a very close bond with, but the duchess is believed to have not spoken with her father since before her marriage to Prince Harry in May 2018 which he failed to attend at the last minute.
The 43-year-old cut all ties with her father in the run-up to her wedding after he was found to have set up photos with the paparazzi, something he later apologised to her for in the press.
Mr Markle has publicly called out Meghan in a number of occasions and has also never met his two grandkids Archie and Lilibet, who reside in Montecito, California with the Sussexes’.
However, despite their rocky relationship, it’s recently emerged that Thomas still proudly keeps old family snaps of Meghan from happier times, including snaps from her earlier marriage to Mr Engelson.
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