Meghan Markle stuns podcast host with personal confession about her acting career struggles

Meghan Markle has opened up about a difficult struggle she faced in her younger years that threatened to derail her career.

Meghan Markle has revealed that she once struggled to get acting roles while she was working due to her race.

The Duchess of Sussex, 43, appeared on British businesswoman Emma Grede’s podcast Aspire to speak about her personal life and new brand.

When Grede asked about her former acting career, Meghan shared a response that left the podcast host stunned.

Meghan told Grede that she struggled to find acting roles due to her ethnicity in her younger years in Hollywood.

Meghan Markle during her guest appearance on the Aspire podcast. Picture: EmmaGrede/YouTube

Meghan opened up about her acting career. Picture: Instagram

“When I was an auditioning actress, and this was well before Suits, you have to think … at that time there were certainly not a lot of mixed-race parts.”

Grede looked surprised at Meghan’s confession, and exclaimed: “Really?!”

Meghan replied: “No,” before the host repeated: “Really?”

The Duchess continued: “No. There weren’t a lot of … If I was going in for an audition, it was either, you have to remember this was a very different time than it is now.

“It was ‘Girl Next Door’. That was typically blonde-haired, blue-eyed and a certain look. But because I’m half-white, I would also be submitted for those roles. “And then if it was a character that had any sort of ethnicity, there was always a bit of an edge to those characters, but I’d be submitted for those roles.”

Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in Suits. Picture: Supplied.

“And I also to a lot of people in casting, they thought I was Latina. “So I share that because, and I’ve shared this before, it was a numbers game.

“If I’m only up for 10 parts, that could be 10 no’s. “But if I’m up for 30 parts, because I can fit into so many different rooms, that could be 30 nos, that is a lot to chip away at your self-esteem. That is really hard.”

Markle went on to share that all the difficult rejections that she faced while trying to make it in the entertainment industry took a toll on her self-confidence.

“I went through my chapter of self-doubt as an auditioning actor and beyond that,” she said. “When you’re so consumed with what everyone around you thinks of you, that can be a really hard way to live.”

Meghan explained that after turning 40 and becoming a mother she realised that she needed to set a good example for her family.

“You can’t have an impostor syndrome around. No way,” she emphasised. “You have to be so authentically the role model and the example of confidence, self-forgiveness, kindness, fun — all of those things and you can’t fake that.”