Abigail Spencer, Meghan Markle’s suits co-star and longtime friend, was oneof the members of her inner circle providing commentary during the Harry &Megan Netflix doc, which saw the remaining three episodes drop Thursday.
Spencer recalled Markle first telling her that she was secretly dating theBritish prince over champagne at Bergdorf Goodman in NYC. The actress attendedthe 2018 royal wedding and helped throw Markle’s baby shower ahead of Archie’sbirth. She also watched her friend be inundated with negative and racistpress.
“It was almost like — from the wedding and everything I saw — that they werebuilding her up,” Spencer said in the doc. “Then there was a shift and theystarted to tear her down. I don’t understand what happened.”
Abigail Spencer, a member of Markle’s inner circle, appeared in Harry &Megan. (Photo: Netflix)
Spencer revealed that she was instrumental in the February 2019 _People_magazine cover story in which Markle’s friends told positive stories about herto counterbalance the narrative in the UK tabloids. A month later is whenMarkle told Harry she was experiencing suicidal thoughts.
“I was very scared” Spencer said of her friend during that period. “That was areally dark time. And I didn’t know what to do. That’s the thing — they are inthis complex organism that I don’t know anything about or how to help or whatto do and I’m not allowed to say anything. I was not allowed to say anything.”
The couple ultimately left England in early 2020, stepping down as seniorroyals. Spencer was among the few to visit them at their temporary home inCanada. She was also there the day they moved into their permanent home inMontecito, Calif. Sadly that day, Markle, who was pregnant and stressed from alawsuit with a UK tabloid, miscarried. Spencer recalled that Markle “fell tothe ground” in pain.
The bond between the two women began long before Markle was a duchess. Spencertold Entertainment tonight in 2018 that they met over a decade earlier at anaudition.
“I saw her and was like, ‘Who is this gorgeous girl?'” she recalled. “She wasjust so stunning and there was just something about her, and that’s how wemet… [Markle is] a trusted friend and one of the most glorious people I haveever met.”
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The friendship solidified when they appeared on suits, which ran from 2011to 2019. Markle played Rachel Elizabeth Zane and Spencer had a recurring roleas Dana Scott.
Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane, Abigail Spencer as Dana Scott on suits.(Photo: Shane Mahood/USA Network/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via GettyImages)
In a story on Markle’s former website The Tig she said that they bonded oversharing the same birthday and year — August 4, 1981. She said they callthemselves “birthday soul sisters.”
“Somehow in the cosmos of things happening for a reason and stars coming intoalignment, we met and became great friends,” Markle wrote. “I’m all aboutpracticalities and pragmatism, and yet it’s these sort of ‘coincidences,’these improbable realities, that bring out the hippie dippie in me. We do calleach other ‘birthday soul sisters’ after all, and happened to show up atdinner (having not seen each other for a year) wearing matching leatherjackets with rose gold hardware, the same thin gold ring on the same slightfinger, and craving the same glass of Viognier.It’s something in our tastesand tastebuds — or it’s just something in our stars.”
In the same post, she described the Florida-born Spencer as “an absolute forceto be reckoned with” on suits but also previously on Mad Men as DonDraper’s mistress Suzanne Farrell. Spencer has also been on Grey ‘s Anatomy,__Hawthorne and rectify. She got her start on the soap opera All MyChildren.
Abigail Spencer, alongside Priyanka Chopra, arriving at Prince Harry andMeghan Markle’s wedding on May 19, 2018. (Photo: Max Mumby/Indigo/GettyImages)
When Markle left suits after her relationship with Harry got serious,Spencer told Parade her friend left “a big giant Meghan hole that can’t befilled.”
Spencer said in the doc that she was behind the People magazine story withMarkle’s friends defending her. She also defended her on social media. In aMarch 2021 Instagram post, she wrote about a 2015 meetup they had in Austin.
“She’s modeled nothing but generous professionalism on sets and an even moregenerous friendship in private,” Spencer wrote. “I’ve learned so much fromMeg. The power of a handwritten note. The loveliness of surprise flowers. Thatshe has a perpetual rolodex in her brain of recommendations for the heart,soul, & body… She’s been there for me – and physically held me — in my darkesthours: After my dad died. After a gut wrenching break up she brought me intoher home & nursed me back to health. Soup & salad waiting in the kitchen,just, if I needed it. She’s taken my son in as her own. I can’t tell you thevalue of having another working mother I can lean on when with the pressuresof visibility & child-rearing woes become overwhelming. She’s always been asafe harbor for me, someone I can fall apart in front of… and with. And Ihave.”
Spencer —who has a son Roman with her ex-husband Andrew Pruett, whom shedivorced in 2012 — told E! News in 2019 that Markle would be a great mother.”I think it goes without saying, she’s incredible. She’s incredible and thatbaby is so lucky to have them as their parents.”
In the 2017 Vanity Fair cover star about Markle, Spencer said, “When you’retalking to her, you feel like you’re the only person on the planet. And it’sjust wonderful to see her so in love.”
Spencer got her start on All My Children. Here ‘s a clip of her in a scenewith Josh Duhamel:
And maybe the connection between them runs even deeper? Spencer was asked by> Parade if she is related to the British Spencers — like Harry’s mother,> the late Princess Diana. “That’s so funny — my grandmother swears [we> are]but I’ve never done any digging,” she replied. “I did meet a lot of> Spencers [in England] and I am a Spencer, so who knows?”
Spencer is one of several Markle friends to go on the record in the doc. Theyalso include Lindsay Jill Roth (a producer/author), Lucy Fraser (publicist),Silver Tree (producer) and tennis legend Serena Williams.
One friend who was notably absent was Jessica Mulroney. While she was includedin clips and a text exchange of theirs was shown on-camera, that relationshipis reportedly done, but neither has addressed it publicly.
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, call 911, orcall the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255 or textHOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.