Originally published By Michelle Tauber for People Magazine
Here are quotes from those who know and have known her longer than UK Royal Reporters.
The five close friends requested “anonymity to protect the private relationships they hold dear — set the record straight on everything from Meghan’s relationship with her dad to an up-close view of her wedding to the reality of her day-to-day life at Kensington Palace’s Nottingham Cottage.”
“From the outside, people want to paint a Cinderella story, but Meg had made her life quite amazing before this,” Meghan’s close confidante says. “She worked hard and earned an amazing career; she did loads of charity and volunteer work; she had a successful lifestyle website [the Tig] with a staff who loved her; she had privacy and freedom, but the means to really enjoy her life and to share that success with her friends —which she always did.”
The confidante adds, “Whenever something good is happening in my life, she celebrates with me first, and when there’s a hardship, she’s there with Kleenex and a shoulder and a glass of wine and the best chat and a book that will help pull me out of wherever I am.”
The Duchess of Sussex writes thank-you notes:
“all in her beautiful penmanship.” L.A. friend
“In any room she’s very conscious of making sure everyone’s included,” says the L.A. friend. “There are people who have met her once, even years and years ago, and they always remember exactly where they were when they met her and exactly what the conversation was, because she so thoroughly engages.”
Duchess Meghan’s is
“wicked funny”, a former colleague tells PEOPLE
that Meghan goes above and beyond to help her friends.
“She is one of the most selfless people I know,” says the former colleague. “A couple years ago, my son was at the beginning of a special-needs diagnosis. Meg screeched her life to a halt and used every resource she could muster for me: got me into a doctor in L.A., got me alternative doctors, called me, sent things to my hotel room. It was like a five-alarm-fire focus of her life to help me and support me.”
“Who you see at walkabouts, when she crouches down to talk to the kids and genuinely has real conversations with people, that’s Meg,” says the former costar. “That’s how she crouches down with our kids at home. How she plays with them. That’s how she engages with people and how she always has. She asks their names; she listens to their stories. And she’s genuinely interested.”
“We see a person who treats everyone the same,” Meghan’s costar continues. “And she is the same person, though everything around her has changed.”
“She didn’t throw a fit about a tiara or ask for fragrance to be sprayed in the church,” her close confidante says. “Those are outrageous claims and 100 percent untrue.”
