When Meghan Markle Fangirled, 'Want to Be Like Ivanka Trump, Beautiful, Intelligent, She Does It All’

Meghan Markle, before her royal life, expressed admiration for Ivanka Trump, highlighting the businesswoman’s intelligence, beauty, and accomplishments. The book Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors, by Tom Bower, sheds light on Markle’s fangirl moment and her aspirations to emulate Ivanka’s success. In 2014, Markle interviewed Ivanka for her blog ‘The Tig,’ praising her as savvy and intelligent.

Markle’s blog post reflected her respect for Ivanka’s education and work ethic, contrasting her with stereotypes of privileged individuals resting on their laurels. Markle highlighted, “Staggeringly beautiful, no question, but so incredibly savvy and intelligent that she’s not just carved a niche for herself under her father’s famed Trump notoriety, she has undoubtedly created her empire. It’s so easy to knock the girls who come from privilege — to assume they rested on their laurels and garnered accolades simply by being fancy from the womb. But I always remember Ivanka being different — she wasn’t dancing on tables as a teenager or releasing pop albums. She wasn’t running amok publicly, swearing, and being smacked with DUIs. Instead, she was graduating from The Wharton School (cum laude, I might add), launching the Trump Hotel Collection, and building her brand.”

As per Page Six, their close connection was evident from Markle’s praise for Ivanka’s designs on the blog. Markle added, “When we have drinks, I will make sure I order whatever she does — because this woman seems to have the formula for success (and happiness) down pat…the line between letting yourself go or looking like you just stepped off a runway (or at least had the time to put some lipstick on.)”

Markle’s intention to become friends with Ivanka and hang out in New York further emphasized their initial positive interactions. However, their relationship took a turn after Donald Trump’s presidency. In a TV interview in 2016, Markle criticized Donald as 'misogynistic', leading to a public exchange of words between the ex-president and Markle. Donald said, “I wasn’t referring to she’s nasty. I said she was nasty about me. And essentially I didn’t know she was nasty about me. She was nasty to me. And that’s OK for her to be nasty. It’s not good for me to be nasty to her and I wasn’t.” As per The Hill, Donald on another occasion, remarked, “...I’d love to debate her [Meghan]. I would love it. I disagree so much with what they’re doing. I said that I don’t think they are very appropriate what they’re saying, what they’re doing, and I didn’t like the way she dealt with the queen.”

After Markle and Prince Harry announced their engagement in November 2017, Ivanka was among the first to wish them. She wrote, “Wishing Meghan and Prince Harry a lifetime of love, laughter and happiness together. I have no doubt that this couple will do extraordinary things, both individually and collectively. Congratulations!”