Meghan Markle labels herself an 'ugly duckling' in high school: 'I was the smart one, not the pretty one'

Meghan Markle revealed in her most recent podcast episode she was an "ugly duckling" in high school, and she never had "anyone to sit with" during lunch.

Markle spoke with Mindy Kaling for the third episode of her Spotify podcast "Archetypes." 

The Duchess of Sussex noted that she did not consider herself to have conventional beauty during her high school years.

"Look, maybe not conventional beauty as it…now, maybe that would be seen as beautiful but massive frizzy curly hair and a huge gap in my teeth that, um," she said before adding, "I was the smart one. Forever and ever and ever and ever. And, and then just sort of grew up."

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Markle, who married Prince Harry in 2018, also spoke with Kaling about being "a little bit of a loner" and "really shy."

"But I never had anyone to sit with at lunch. I, I was always a little bit of a loner and really shy and didn't know where I fit in," she explained.

To combat this, Markle became involved in a handful of school activities - including becoming president of multiple clubs.

"And, and so I just became, I was like, okay, well then I'll become the president of the Multicultural Club and the president of sophomore class and the president of this and French club," she said. "And, and by doing that, I had meetings at lunchtime. So I didn't have to worry about who I would sit with or what I would do because I was always so busy."

Kaling responded by saying it's "nice to know" that about Markle.

"That makes me very emotional. And that's, I'm happy that people know that because I think people see you and they're like, ‘oh, my gosh,’ like the wedding, the couture fittings for that and this and that. And I think that I certainly didn't know that about you. And it's nice to know."

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Kaling explained her own experience of feeling unattractive while growing up. The comedian characterized herself as a "dark-skinned Indian girl, overweight, glasses, in lily-white suburbs of Boston."

"So, I went through high school," she told Markle. "No boyfriends. Heard about my friends kissing, falling in love, losing their virginity. College. Same. Nothing. Always a spectator. Watching things."

"By the way, I learned a lot from that," Kaling added. "I learned how to, you know, so many of my shows right now are about young women and longing and feeling horny and feeling rejected. And I've learned a lot from that."

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Markle started her acting career with a small role on "General Hospital." She went on to appear in shows and movies such as "Century City," "CSI: NY" and "Horrible Bosses."

She is most known for her seven season stint as Rachel Zane on "Suits."

In July 2016, she began dating Prince Harry and the two became engaged in November 2017. The couple married in 2018 and share two children together; Archie and Lilibet.

Markle and Harry are back in Europe this week to work with multiple charities. The royals, who stepped back from their senior roles in 2020, first appeared at the One Young World Summit in Manchester on Monday. Markle gave the keynote speech.

The two headed to Germany on Tuesday for the Invictus Games' "One Year to Go" event.