Meghan Markle's Close Friend Abigail Spencer Spoke Out About How Royal Life Impacted Meghan

For years now, many of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's closest friends have remained silent about the royal couple and their headline grabbing love story. However, all of that is changing now. Thanks to the Sussexes' new Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, many of the royal couple's nearest and dearest are sharing their stories about the duke and duchess for the first time. Among those who appear in the series is actress Abigail Spencer.

"I was screaming because I could tell it was different," Spencer revealed of her first time learning about Harry and Meghan's relationship. "It was very clear... that they were going to go to the ends of the earth to be together."

Here's what we know about Spencer, Meghan's former Suits colleague and longtime pal.

They were costars on Suits, but they actually met a long before the show.

Spencer told ET that they first met at an audition, over a decade before Meghan's royal wedding. "I saw her and was like, 'Who is this gorgeous girl?'" she said of meeting Meghan. "She was just so stunning and there was just something about her, and that's how we met."

Later, they would bond during the filming of Suits, with Spencer played Dana "Scottie" Scott and Meghan played Rachel Zane. Spencer even contributed to the Tig, Meghan's since-discontinued lifestyle blog.

The actress was also invited to Meghan and Prince Harry's royal wedding.

Spencer was spotted entering the church alongside Priyanka Chopra, another one of Meghan's famous pals. She's been secretive about what it was like to attend the event, but she did drop a hint as to what she gave Meghan as a wedding gift. "I think what [Harry and Meghan] would love is [for people] to donate to one of the charities that they are involved in," she said to ET.

She's continued to spend time with the Sussexes

Back in 2019, Spencer was spotted with Meghan during the royal's brief trip to NYC before baby Archie was born and was part of her baby shower. She later joined Meghan Markle and Prince Harry hiking on Canada's idyllic Victoria Island in 2020.

She spoke out in Harry & Meghan about how royal life impacted Meghan.

In the Sussexes' 2022 Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan Spencer shared her perceptions of Meghan after she joined the royal family.

"It went so well," she said of the couple's 2018 royal tour. "The work that they were doing the speeches they were giving, it seemed to be amazing and then I don’t understand what happened after that." She added, "It was almost like in the wedding and everything, I saw that they were building her up, and then there was a shift and they started to tear her down."

"That was a really dark time, and I didn’t know what to do," she said. "I was not allowed to say anything. Anything that anybody was printing wasn’t coming from anybody that knew her. There’s all this untruth, there's all these lies, and it just seemed to be getting worse.”

Ultimately, she revealed, she contacted a friend at People. "I said we have to turn this narrative around. It will just be her closest friends coming together to talk about the person who she really is in the middle of this shitstorm," she explained. "The story comes out, like 'okay whew,' there was a little bit of an exhale.”

She has a lot in common with her royal friend.

"We were born on the same day, hours apart, in the same year," Spencer told ET. "[Meghan is] a trusted friend and one of the most glorious people I have ever met."

She also told People that she shared an aesthetic sense with the Duchess. "She has incredible taste, she has really influenced my fashion and taste," Spencer said. "We have a lot of similarities in what we like."

Spencer has had a successful career in TV acting, and has even crossed over into writing.

She started her career on All My Children in 1998, and has since had recurring roles on Mad Men, True Detective, Suits, and Grey's Anatomy

In the early years, before her acting career really took off, "I felt like the best thing I could do was start writing for myself," she told the Wrap. "So I started writing and I ended up selling a pilot during that time."

In her free time, she surfs and hangs out with her son.

Spencer has one son, Roman, with her ex-husband Andrew Pruett.

In 2018, she told Parade he even joins her on set sometimes. "I got him to come to set the other day and he wanted to go do hair and makeup with me,"she said. "So he got a wig put on, and bruises and cuts put on his face... So when he came to set, I was like, 'Okay, we’ve got to put you to work.' He sat by a video village. He looked like a little savant director with his headphones on. He gave his direction and his feedback after the take."

When she's not working, she's often off surfing, and has made trips to Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Hawaii to do so.

She might be tied into the royal family in another way.

When Parade asked her if she was related to any British Spencers—say, Princess Diana—the actress responded, "That’s so funny. My grandmother swears [we are], but I’ve never done any digging. I did meet a lot of Spencers [in England] and I am a Spencer, so who knows?"

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