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Suits star Wendell Pierce is sharing the advice he gave Meghan Markle before she married into the royal family.
Pierce and his former co-star played father and daughter Robert and Rachel Zane in the hit legal drama, which aired between 2011 and 2019. While Pierce appeared in all nine seasons, Markle left Suits after Season 7 when she got engaged to Prince Harry in 2017.
Speaking recently to E! News, the actor disclosed what he told the Duchess of Sussex ahead of her 2018 royal wedding. “I’m always reminded of the last day working with Meghan, which was the wedding scene prior to her engagement to the Prince,” he explained. “I said, ‘Meghan, your life is going to be a whirlwind. You’re going to be in this bubble.’”
“‘I just want you to remember that no matter what happens, you always have friends,’” Pierce recalled telling the Duchess before she left the show. “‘And I hope you count me in that number.’”
In the Suits Season 7 finale, Rachel (Markle) and Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams) depart the series after tying the knot and moving to Seattle, where they launch their own law firm. The episode aired in April 2018, less than a month before Markle and Prince Harry married in a royal wedding ceremony at Windsor Castle.
“I’m so grateful that I was able to express that to her before the whirlwind engagement in a wedding and becoming the Duchess,” he added of their final conversation on set.
While Pierce was invited to the Duke and Duchess’s royal nuptials, he was unable to attend due to schedule conflicts at the time. However, the actor has since reunited with his former Suits co-star following her and Prince Harry’s move to California — where they reside with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
“We were at a public function together and she was receiving an award,” the actor revealed to E! News. “It was great to see them because there’s this public persona, and then it’s the two that I know.”
Suits’ Streaming Surge
Suits ran for nine seasons between 2011 and 2019, following college dropout Mike Ross (J. Adams) as he worked alongside one of New York City’s top attorneys, Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht). The series broke streaming records four years after its finale, earning 3 billion viewing minutes on Netflix in a single week.
In February 2024, NBCUniversal green-lit a pilot for the show’s long-rumored spinoff, Suits L.A., which will center on a former federal prosecutor, Ted Black, who represents the most powerful clients in Los Angeles.
