Meghan Markle has barely had a moment out of the press in the last few years, ever since her whirlwind romance with Prince Harry became official. There’s simply no denying the incredible influence that Meghan has had on the public, as she’s set trends and helped bring a fresh perspective to the royal family. But in contrast, she’s also endured an overwhelming amount of pressure from the media.
After she and Prince Harry married in 2018, the couple were given the official titles Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Following their wedding, they began to work as royals, but not long after their son Archie’s birth in 2019, the couple renounced their official roles and left the royal family in order to escape the media frenzy that had surrounded them in the United Kingdom. They have since welcomed a second child, Lilibet, and are now living a quiet life in California in the United States. Prince Harry and Meghan have certainly forged their own path in the royal family.
Meghan is still often in the press, but as several incidents over the years have shown, sometimes she appears to be in the press even when it’s not actually her! It’s not surprising that people idolize Meghan and look up to her, but some people have taken that respect for the former working duchess to the extreme. In fact, one mother of three even spent thousands upon thousands of dollars for plastic surgery procedures to help her look like Meghan! Read on to find out more about Meghan’s life and how dedicated her royal fans are.
Entering into the royal family after marrying Prince Harry might be what Meghan Markle is mostly known for these days, but she was already successful in her career prior to becoming the Duchess of Sussex. While fans might know her from scripted television, particularly the show “Suits,” one of her early roles in show business was on the game show “Deal or No Deal,” hosted by Howie Mandel. Appearing as a briefcase model on one season in 2006, Meghan has since spoken of that time as one she’d rather forget.
She then moved towards dramatic acting, so it’s no surprise to learn that Meghan got her start by appearing in minor roles on scripted television series. This is a common way for actors to get their foot in Hollywood’s door, with extra work sometimes leading to smaller roles with lines and, eventually, main roles in film and television.
Besides an early uncredited role in 1995, Meghan’s first appearance was as Jill in a 2002 episode of “General Hospital.” Most of her early filmography included minor roles in television series before she eventually made it onto some bigger shows, including “CSI: NY,” “90210,” “Fringe,” “CSI: Miami,” and “Castle.” It’s likely you saw her in an episode of your favorite show years before she became a familiar face on “Suits.” As well as working on television shows, Meghan has also acted in movies.
But the role that really put her on the map is that of paralegal Rachel Zane — which, incidentally, is Meghan’s real first name — who she played for seven seasons of the show’s nine-season run. It was while she was on the show that she met and began dating Prince Harry and even got engaged.
However, acting isn’t the only thing Meghan is known for. Another side of her that in some circles was quite widely known was her propensity for lifestyle blogging on her own website named The Tig. She started the site in 2014 as a side project from her acting, and it focused on fashion and beauty, as well as food and travel.
She proved to be quite the influencer, showing off her impeccable personal taste and photography and writing skills. She shut the site down in 2017, around the time she became engaged, and by then, the blog had amassed 3 million loyal followers on Instagram, while its Facebook count was 800,000 and 350,000 on Twitter. Her success with the site even extended to lucrative sponsored content and brand partnerships.
Another relatively unknown skill of hers is her work as a freelance calligrapher. Meghan’s gorgeous penmanship has been pointed out before, and in fact, she used to get paid for it, having written Robin Thicke and Paula Patton’s wedding invitations and Dolce & Gabbana’s holiday correspondence to celebrities, among other things.
Meghan has proven she’s just as talented as she is beautiful. What’s more, she’s a kind person with a passion for humanitarian causes. It’s no wonder then that she ended up with her own literal prince charming! After being set up on a blind date in 2016, Prince Harry later described Meghan as “beautiful” and that she “just tripped and fell into my life.” After only a few dates, the couple holidayed together in Botswana, where they fell in love “so incredibly quickly,” with Harry declaring in the same interview that the “stars were aligned.”
Although Prince Harry confirmed their relationship in late 2016, the pair weren’t photographed together until September 2017 at the Invictus Games in Toronto. The media began a frenzy to capture the loved-up couple in photographs, and from that moment on, Meghan’s life would never be the same again. Soon enough, the sound of wedding bells could be heard, and after becoming engaged in November of that year, the couple wed in a ceremony seen by the world in May 2018.
Meghan left acting upon getting engaged in order to focus on her new life as a working royal, with a focus on causes that are close to her heart. Soon after their wedding, she became pregnant with the couple’s first child, a son named Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, who was born one year after their ceremony in May 2019.
Meghan’s new focus became family, and in order to best protect their brood from the increasingly hostile British press, the couple renounced their royal titles and moved to the United States, settling down in California. After a quiet period focusing on their new family of three, the couple announced they were expecting their second child following a miscarriage that Meghan suffered in 2020. And in June 2021, Meghan and Harry welcomed their daughter, Lilibet.
Then in March of 2021, the couple held a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, where they opened up about their side of the story and why they left the royal family and the United Kingdom. The interview is believed to have caused a major rift in the royal family, although after Prince Philip died in April 2021, Harry has been back to the UK and appeared to have made some peace with his family members.
While Meghan has had her own ups and downs within the royal family and the fanbase at times, people have continued to compare the duchess to past and present members. Back in May 2021, Twitter user Julieth posted a side-by-side comparison of a baby photo of Meghan along with Archie, and it is quite clear that the toddler has taken after his beautiful mother! She captioned her post, “Archie been looking a lot like Meghan.”
Other users certainly agreed with this, with one user commenting that they “always” saw the resemblance. “I have always said that Archie looks like his mother from the first time we saw him at the photo call. He’s a mini Meghan with his curly and wavy hair,” they wrote. Other users also commented that Archie was Meghan’s “mini-me.”
Another person also saw that Archie’s face resembled both his parents, adding, “I think he is changing from Harry to Meghan’s faces at the moment. I can’t wait to see which face will finally stick.”
While it is impossible for the public to know what the family, and especially Meghan, has been through in her journey of becoming a royal, one woman who’s had a taste of what it’s like to become a media sensation overnight is a Missouri mother of two. In fact, she shares a few other things in common with the Duchess of Sussex — she’s a mom, an influencer, and most obviously, she looks like Meghan, too!
Akeisha Varnado Land is a Kansas City-based mom who runs an Instagram account, @greyson_land, that’s devoted to her two children, Greyson and Tristan Land. And although she’s an influencer who’s had a taste of the spotlight, her social media account’s focus is on her children and family.
But everything changed for Akeisha when on Jan. 27, 2020, she posted a selfie that ended up going viral. That’s because Akeisha looks so incredibly much like the Duchess of Sussex that the image became an instant sensation. In an interview with Apost.com, she explained, “the viralness (sic) that has happened around the net has been pretty crazy.”
The photo that caused many to label her Meghan’s “doppelgänger” sparked confusion in the public, with people unsure whether it was Akeisha or Meghan. Akeisha embodies many similar traits to Meghan — they both have gorgeous brown eyes, beaming smiles, glowing skin, and gorgeous black hair — so it’s no wonder people were confused if she was actually Meghan’s long-lost twin!
Akeisha explained that her life had changed “a ton” since the viral recognition. She added:
“Well for starters I’ve had to put on makeup way more often. I generally don’t wear any makeup during the week and with all the various on air and Skype interviews I’ve done I found myself having to be ‘camera ready’ at all times. Which has definitely been a big change.”
Despite the sudden change in her lifestyle, Akeisha said that she and her family “have fun with it though.” She elaborated on their reaction to her social media fame:
“My family thinks it’s as crazy as I do that all of this is happening just because I look like her; the kids call me ‘Meghan Markle’ and ‘the duchess’ all the time now.”
Despite their incredible physical similarities, Akeisha is not related to Meghan in any way.
At this point, people within her own family have compared her to Meghan as well as strangers from the internet – but it still hasn’t stopped! In fact, one woman wanted to look like the former working Duchess of Sussex so much that she took pretty drastic measures.
A woman has gone under the knife to look more like Meghan. Xochytl Greer is a mother of three from Houston, Texas. She started to struggle with self-esteem issues after the birth of her daughter several years ago. No matter how much she played around with her hair, makeup and wardrobe, she just couldn’t find fulfillment in her appearance.
According to the Mirror, Greer always felt self-conscious about how she looked, especially the way her clothes fit her, and figured that she would “never be presentable.”
That’s when she started to look more closely at pictures of the Duchess of Sussex. She’d been a fan of the former actress since her days on “Suits,” but her admiration only grew after Meghan married into the royal family. Greer told the New York Post:
“I really like her, I have always thought she was a classy person, she’s very relatable and I think she’s absolutely beautiful. Knowing the things she went through, that she didn’t grow up with the perfect life and with family struggles made her even more relatable.”
Greer decided to get plastic surgery to look more like Meghan. She was already a slim brunette, so she had the basics down, but she wanted her face and figure to resemble the duchess a little more.
She had fillers injected into her jaw to give it a more pronounced line like Meghan’s. She received Botox under her eyes and around her lips. She even splurged for liposuction on her stomach, thighs and rear end.
In total, Greer estimated that she spent around $30,000 to achieve her new look, according to the New York Post. She unveiled it at a high society event in Houston, and the reaction was overwhelmingly positive.
“It felt like I was the princess for the day,” she recalled. “It was a great experience, and I really enjoyed it.”
According to Entertainment Tonight, even Greer’s daughter has gotten in on the fun. As a toddler, the young girl would often say, “It’s mommy on TV! It’s mommy!” to which Greer would respond, “Nope, that’s not mommy.”
Not everyone is on Greer’s side, however. Some people have criticized her for spending so much money on her appearance. Others have taken issue with the entire idea of getting plastic surgery to look like someone else. Personally, Greer isn’t bothered by the haters. She told the New York Post:
“When I look in the mirror, I’m happy again. I still see me, but a better version of me. I’m at the point where I feel I can put myself out there in the world again.”
Some people said that Greer and Meghan do look incredibly alike. “They both (are) so beautiful,” one person said. However, many people stressed that they hope that Greer finds happiness within herself and her own looks. “I hope she loves herself for who she is someday,” a commenter added.
Do you think this woman looks like Meghan Markle? Would you ever get plastic surgery to look like your favorite celebrity? Let us know, and be sure to pass this along to your family, friends and any royal family fans you know!
