Meghan Markle got candid about her relationship with her mother, Doria Ragland, revealing that they bonded during an eye-opening experience in her childhood. On the latest episode of her podcast Archetypes, the Duchess of Sussex welcomed comedian Margaret Cho and journalist Lisa Ling to discuss Asian stereotypes and she opened up the conversation with an anecdote about going to a Korean nude spa with her mom as a young girl.
“Now, for those of you who haven’t been to one before, it’s a very humbling experience for a girl going through puberty because you enter a room with women from ages 9 to maybe 90, all walking around naked and waiting to get a body scrub on one of these tables that are all lined up in a row,” the former actress recalled, adding, “All I wanted was a bathing suit. Which you’re not allowed by the way.”
Despite the initial awkward feelings, Meghan said she was able to move past it and enjoy the time spent with her mother. “Once I was over that adolescent embarrassment, my mom and I, we would go upstairs, we would sit in a room and we would have a steaming bowl of the most delicious noodles,” Meghan explained.
The podcast episode is the first released since Meghan was in the U.K. with her husband Prince Harry to pay respects to his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, whose funeral was Sept. 19. The couple were already visiting the country at the time of the monarch’s death, but had no plans on visiting with Harry’s family members, as they have been a bit estranged since Harry & Meghan stepped back from their royal duties.
However, the death in the family appears to have mended some of the damage, as not only did Harry’s dad, King Charles III’s, extend an olive branch, but so did his brother, Prince William. At King Charles III’s request, Prince Harry was granted permission to wear his military uniform to the special vigil attended by all of the Queen’s grandchildren. And William invited Harry and his wife Meghan Markle to walk the grounds of Windsor Castle and greet onlookers together with him and his wife Kate Middleton, which may have tempered the chilly relationship between the couples.