The secrets behind Meghan’s lifelong obsession with her hair… and the heartbreaking story that reveals just how close she once was to her father

Meghan Markle once told a business consultant that she had “legs a mile long” and wanted to show them off as commercially as possible.

That’s not her only strong point, as last week’s photos from the Canadian ski resort Whistler showed again.

Don’t forget the all-American smile and careful dress sense, it’s Meghan’s hair that could be described as her ‘crowning glory’, even though the Duchess is no longer a working royal.

Admirers raved about the immaculately manicured auburn locks on display, including Meghan’s ‘hairdresser to the stars’, Kadi Lee of the Highbrow Hippie salon.

Color expert Lee revealed on Instagram that the Duchess’s new styling was thanks to a “mix of red and gold undertones” and “a next-level bold shine.”

If Meghan’s hair has been a lifelong obsession — as it is for many women — there’s one “secret” that hasn’t filtered through to social media until now.

That’s the moving role of her father, Thomas Markle, who told me he would sometimes get up at 5 a.m. to help his young daughter smooth her hair with a hair straightener so it looked exactly the way she wanted.

“If she wanted to straighten her hair, it would take her hours to get to school,” he recalls.

“But it was something I did voluntarily.”

Tom, 79, once made a living as an Emmy-winning lighting director in Hollywood, but turned to amateur hairdressing when Meghan came to live with him after the breakdown of his marriage.

The Duchess has not spoken to her father since he suffered two heart attacks on the eve of her wedding to Prince Harry in 2018 and was unable to walk her down the aisle.

Tom says he was shocked to discover that his daughter’s hair exposed Meghan to racism from an early age.

While on vacation, father and daughter were driving across the United States from their home in Los Angeles to Florida when they stopped in rural Texas and tried to find a salon to wash and straighten Meghan’s naturally curly hair.

“We tried several, but no one would take us in because I was a white man with a mixed-race child,” he said.

When Meghan became a teenager, she learned how to do her own hair and makeup – helped by spending time on set and in the studios with her lighting director father.

Tom recalls how Meghan studied and learned from the professionals who worked on popular American shows including General Hospital and Married with Children.

It was when she broke through as an actress and became a Hollywood star – most famous as ‘suitcase girl’ on the Deal Or No Deal show – that Meghan adopted the signature glossy look we recognize today, using specialist treatments to to smooth and strengthen. hair from damage.

As she explained in 2011, there is quite a bit of work and expense involved.

“My mother is black and my father is Dutch and Irish, so the texture of my hair is densely curled,” she said. ‘I’ve been suffering from Brazilian breakouts for a few years now.’

A Brazilian blowout is a semi-permanent strengthening treatment that uses keratin (an important protein in hair and nails) to penetrate the hair cuticle and smooth the hair shaft.

Results last up to four months, but some salons in Los Angeles charge more than £400 ($500) per treatment.

Described by her stylist as “a dynamic brunette,” Meghan’s latest hairstyle was shown off by skinny white jeans, a $675 (£530) white cashmere sweater and an off-white quilted coat when she last appeared for the cameras appeared. week.

The Duke and Duchess were in Canada to promote the next Invictus Games in a year’s time, hosted by Whistler.

The games were created for sick and injured soldiers and were founded by Prince Harry, who organized the first event in 2014. Next year the introduction of winter sports will take place for the first time.

During a visit to a training camp, the couple met athletes hoping to compete next year and the prince was pictured ‘ski-sitting’, joking: ‘do I have to sign a waiver?’

If Harry got the lead role, Meghan’s hair – praised for its new, reddish hue – took second place.

“This is the most beautiful hair I’ve ever looked like!” said one fan commenting on the Instagram page of LA-based Highbrow Hippie salon – a favorite of Julia Roberts.

“Absolutely beautiful,” said another. ‘So shiny and healthy. GOALS.’

Meghan still styles her own hair when necessary, often sweeping it back into a chic ‘ballerina bun’. It is also speculated that she uses high quality hair extensions to add length and volume on special occasions.

In this, as in many other matters, she has become quite an expert.

As one source put it, “Meghan can do her own hair and makeup at a professional level because, like anything she puts her mind to, she practiced and practiced until she was perfect.”