and would take his son to the services, often twice a week.
Joshua did not need to see which box Meghan might or might not have checked to understand her ethnicity: ‘When I saw Meghan, I saw a lighter-skinned brown person with curly hair and freckles and fuller lips. And I was like, that person is a person of colour.’
Meghan and Joshua got together in a time-honoured way. He recalled, ‘It was very typical of what kids do at that time. A friend told me Meghan thought I was cute and then I told my friend I thought she was cute. That was really the impetus we needed to become a couple. I took a day to think about it and figure out what to do. It was camp and we would be seeing each other every day so it was a big commitment to show up as a couple.
‘So the next day I made my move and we just fell into it. It was very innocent and very cute. And everyone took it that we were together. If she was doing anything acting-wise, I was very focused on it and very, very interested in what she was doing.’ Even though they were young, they talked about the black experience from the perspective of someone who had a white parent. They weren’t overly serious conversations but ones in which they discussed what it might be like to be a person of colour in the entertainment industry.
The new couple also had the more traditional teenage problem – how to find any privacy. They would sit together at lunch but the other campmates would always be around. Joshua explained, ‘It was this awkward and uncomfortable thing – like you are sitting with us and infringing on our space. But they were like – “Are you guys going to kiss? Kiss now.”’ They did kiss, making sure they practised a lot at every opportunity during camp.
Having been together most of the day, Meghan and Joshua would spend much of the evening on the phone to each other. He would be on the floor of his mother’s bedroom and she would be in a closet upstairs – both of them trying to keep the conversation away from parental ears.
Camp was an enjoyable way of spending the summer holidays. The Agape theatre programme was different in that it combined theatre games and practice with a sense of spirituality. There was nothing overtly serious but it just seemed natural to take a break with some guided meditation or ‘visioning’, where you think about your goals for the future, or to end a day of fun with a prayer.
Meghan celebrated her fourteenth birthday at the beginning of August and was given a rousing chorus of ‘Happy Birthday Meghan Markle with a Sparkle’ at the camp. Her memorable summer ended with a spectacular show in the Sanctuary, Agape’s main hall on Olympic Boulevard in Santa Monica. It was a culmination of all the various stories and presentations, improv games and sketches that they had worked on for six weeks. They each had to perform a monologue in which they created a new and totally original character. Meghan made sure her hair was at its wildest, smeared lipstick on her face and wore clothes that didn’t really fit. Joshua remembers it as being ‘quirky’. She loved the applause – the cheering, screaming and laughing that stays with you. The big finale was a huge, choreographed dance number entitled ‘Agape’s 38 Flavours’, in which every boy and girl took part.
After camp was over, the group got together and met up at the promenade next to Santa Monica beach. Everyone was relaxed, just hanging; Megan and Joshua held hands as they walked along before they all went into the local cinema to watch the film Clueless, a big summer hit in 1995.
The movie, set in Beverly Hills, is loosely based on Jane Austen’s classic novel Emma. The heroine, Cher Horowitz, played by Alicia Silverstone, is a high-school matchmaker who eventually falls in love with the Mr Knightley character (Paul Rudd), who in the film is rather coincidentally called Josh.
Unfortunately, the other, real-life Josh was unimpressed. He observed, ‘I wasn’t a fan. I was a young African–American boy watching a film about white women. It revolves around a shopaholic white woman and I was not relating to any of that.’ When his guy friends said they were leaving, he went too and told Meghan that he would see her outside. He left just before the tender kiss between the two lead characters: ‘I left my teenage, romance-driven beautiful girlfriend in a theatre while the kissing scene happened. What a dummy! I didn’t understand back then that you don’t do that. You don’t leave – that’s when you kiss the girl in the movie theater.’
That evening, Meghan let Joshua down gently during their long evening phone call. She explained to him why he shouldn’t have done that. She was, he acknowledges, a little ahead of him in understanding how a relationship works. He recalled, ‘I listened to her and I understood and I felt bad.’ Meghan also observed, sensibly, that they were both moving up from middle into high school next term and would inevitably see little of each other. She told him she wanted to enjoy the high school experience, the next stage of growing up. ‘So it was like “Oh heartbreak – but you are probably right,”’ observed her now ex-boyfriend.
And that was that, although Meghan always remembered Joshua and she told chat show veteran Larry King in 2013 that he had been her first kiss.
They didn’t keep in touch, although over the years he would still see Doria at Agape. When the church moved to new premises in Culver City, the entrance hall would be filled with various book, bric-a-brac and clothing stalls. Doria had one for her vintage lines and Joshua would stop to chat and discover how ‘Meg’, as her mother called her in public, was doing.
Joshua has become a well-known name in Los Angeles performing arts. He mentioned Meghan in his one-man show and later was a resident performer, the expert beat-boxer, on the Drop the Mic spot that proved so popular on The Late Late Show with James Cordon. As Meghan would also do, he has given back to the community; in his case with workshops and residences in local schools that have provided a safe and non-judgemental environment for boys and girls to realise their creative potential.
Meghan had enjoyed her first romantic interlude, but perhaps just as importantly she couldn’t wait for the next show at Immaculate Heart; another step on her Yellow Brick Road.
5
Meghan could still be found most days after school on the set of Married with Children. She was part of the furniture, but she herself was becoming more aware of the world of television. Her interest in performing that had been nurtured at elementary school, inspired at the Agape camp and encouraged by Immaculate Heart, was becoming increasingly important. She wasn’t just turning up to give Buck a cuddle – the much-loved dog retired in 1995 – but to watch what was going on and study the actors. One of them, Amanda Bearse, who played Marcy in the show, remembered Meghan as ‘quiet’ and ‘respectful’.
Life at the studios, however, wasn’t all about acting. Meghan became fascinated with food and the beautiful dishes that were served every day to the cast and crew. Sometimes Tom, who was popular on set, would suggest she help out in the craft services department where all the food was prepared. She explained, ‘That’s where I started to learn about garnishing and plating. I saw the appreciation of the food. I started to learn the association between food and happiness and being able to entertain.’ She was happy to take over the cooking duties back at the apartment on Vista del Mar.
Meghan’s first job as a young teenager involved food but there was nothing to interest Michelin at the wittily named Humphrey Yogart, a frozen yoghurt store in the Beverly Connection shopping mall on La Cienega Boulevard. The owner, Paula Sheftel, shrewdly realised that the youngest member of staff was a big asset, popular with the customers who appreciated her ‘outgoing personality’.
Although she didn’t earn much – just four dollars an hour – Meghan had her own money for the first time. Of more long-term significance was an encounter in the car park next to the parade. She was taking out the bins when she
