Wendell Pierce clearly wanted Meghan Markle, his former co-star of “Suits,” to be prepared for life as a royal.
During an interview with E! News published on Saturday, the actor reflected on his conversation with the now-Duchess of Sussex on their last day of filming the long-running USA Network legal drama together.
Pierce played the father of Meghan’s character in “Suits,” which aired from 2011 to 2019. Meghan left the show in 2017. She announced that year that she was retiring from acting to focus on royal duties after she became engaged to Prince Harry.
“I’m always reminded of the last day working with Meghan, which was the wedding scene prior to her engagement to the Prince,” Pierce told the publication. “I said, ‘Meghan, your life is going to be a whirlwind. You’re going to be in this bubble.’”
“The Wire” alum then shared how he offered his support to his former co-star.
“‘I just want you to remember that no matter what happens, you always have friends,’” he said. “‘And I hope you count me in that number.’”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who wed in 2018, have both since been vocal about their difficult experiences as working royals.
They memorably announced their decision to step back as senior royals in 2020. They moved to Meghan’s hometown of Los Angeles that year.
Meghan and Harry discussed their experiences as royals in a 2022 Netflix documentary. The Duke of Sussex released an intimate memoir titled, “Spare,” last year, and the married duo unforgettably dished on the royal family in their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021.
Pierce had called out all the excitement surrounding the couple’s interview with Winfrey in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Quoting Shakespeare, he told UK’s LBC radio at the time that the sit-down conversation was: “Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
“It is quite insensitive and offensive that we are all complicit in this sort of Palace... gossip,” he said, as quoted by LBC. “In the midst of so much death, I think it is insignificant.”
He later clarified on X, formerly Twitter, that his frustration had to with British Monarcy, which he called “archaic.”
“If slavery, colonialism and apartheid didn’t educate you that they are racist, you failed history,” he said.
“I was fortunate to tell Meghan personally I wish her all the best,” he wrote in a follow-up tweet. “Predicting this hellacious maelstrom I also told her she would always have a friend in me. Because I had no interest in the interview doesn’t change that.”