Meghan Markle Didn’t Always Love Valentine’s Day

Meghan Markle may seem the epitome of a woman in love as she readies herself to celebrate her first anniversary with Prince Harry this May, but she wasn’t always looking for that special someone that would make her feel whole as a person. In fact, it seemed she was on a search for her own self-fulfillment more than any other type of love.

People Magazine reported that the Duchess of Sussex once said on her now-defunct lifestyle website called The Tig that it was important to take care of yourself first before you could give yourself to anyone else.

In a 2015 post, People noted that Markle expressed this sentiment, “I think you need to be your own Valentine.”

The future wife of Prince Harry also noted that two of her pals, Sarah Rafferty and Gina Torres, aka her Suits “sister wives,” found that Markle “was in some sort of funk.”

“[I was] bemoaning something that was so futile I don’t even remember what it was now. But I was faaaaaar from showing [myself] self-love,” she wrote on The Tig, as quoted by People.

“They were protecting me from myself. From my own criticism, and my own self-doubt. They were reminding me to treat myself as well as I treat those closest to me. To be my own Valentine.”

Markle has certainly come a long way from those feelings of self-doubt she once experienced. Even if she still has those emotions today, one would never know it with the self-composed, elegant way she carries herself as a member of Britain’s royal family.

The former actress has long been a proponent of taking care of herself. One of the ways she does so is by eating well. Cheat Sheet reported that the Duchess of Sussex eats a healthy diet. She is a reported foodie, who loves to spend the evening talking to someone over a good meal. That being said, she does not subscribe to a restrictive diet.

Markle takes care of herself by enjoying a variety of foods, including sushi (which she has likely abstained from during her pregnancy), steak, roasted chicken, and cheese. Per Cheat Sheet, she also drinks a green drink in lieu of a caffeinated beverage for a pick-me-up. Delish wrote that Markle also starts her day with a combination of hot water and lemon, a drink that Shape Magazine reported aids in your body’s detoxification, balances its pH levels, wakes up your digestive tract, and boosts your immune system.

She also practices yoga, a habit she learned from her mother, Doria Ragland. Ragland, whom Markle described as a dreadlocked woman with a nose ring, a yoga instructor, social worker, free spirit, and a “lover of potato chips and lemon tarts” in a 2014 Tig post, per Town & Country Magazine, taught her daughter to take care of herself in terms of her body and soul. Markle is still reportedly adhering to her mother’s teachings to this day.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s first child is expected in the spring.