Prince Harry's girlfriend Meghan Markle has revealed that being airbrushed in photographs is her "pet peeve". In a new interview with Allure magazine, the Suits actress said she gets especially annoyed when her skin tone is changed and her freckles are removed in pictures. Meghan, who has a white father and a black mother, also stated that her bi-racial identity causes "quite a conundrum" for casting agents.
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"For castings, I was labelled 'ethnically ambiguous'," she said. "Was I Latina? Sephardic? Exotic Caucasian?' Add the freckles to the mix and it created quite the conundrum. To this day my pet peeve is when my skin tone is changed and my freckles are airbrushed out of a photoshoot." The 35-year-old also said that her father had once told her that "a face without freckles is a night without stars", and that those words had stuck with her to this day.
Meghan Markle has said being airbrushed in photos is her 'pet peeve'
Meghan has spoken out in the past about the challenges of growing up mixed race. She told the magazine she had "vivid memories" of being seven years old and her mum picking her up from her grandmother's house. "There were the three of us, a family tree in an ombre of mocha next to the caramel complexion of my mum and light-skinned, freckled me," she said. "I remember the sense of belonging, having nothing to do with the colour of my skin. It was only outside the comforts of home that the world began to challenge those ideals."
Meghan and Prince Harry recently enjoyed a secret date at the Natural History Museum
The American actress, who started dating Prince Harry in June, was in London this week to spend time with the 32-year-old royal. The couple enjoyed a secret date at the Natural History Museum after the attraction closed its doors to the public on Sunday. A source told the Sun: "Meg had always wanted to go so Harry arranged a private visit. It's quite romantic after dark as all the exhibits, including the dinosaurs, are all still lit up. And, of course, they had it to themselves."