Meghan Markle Avoided Trump When They Filmed A Game Show Together, According To A New Book

A new book coming is coming out about Prince Harry's soon-to-be wife, and fans of the British royal family are chomping at the bit to read it. Excerpts are being shared in a variety of media outlets, but one clip in particular is catching a lot of readers' eyes. In a piece published by The Cut, the book's author claims that Meghan Markle avoided Trump when she worked on television, as a briefcase girl on Deal or No Deal.

The book in question, Meghan: A Hollywood Princess, was written by British journalist Andrew Morton, and will be published on April 16. Morton isn't new to the subject of the British monarchy either. Among other celebrity biographies, he has written books about Princess Diana, as well as a book about Prince William and Kate Middleton's relationship.

In the excerpt shared in The Cut, however, Morton hones in on Markle's career back in the mid-aughts, when she revealed prizes hidden within briefcases on an American gameshow. According to Morton:

One guest caused quite the frisson: Donald Trump, then making a guest appearance to cross-promote The Apprentice. He gave girls his card and invited them to play golf at one of his courses. Fellow briefcase girl Tameka Jacobs told me, 'He was super-creepy, but some girls were attracted to money and power and took his number. Meghan was one of the girls who gave him a wide berth.'

Reportedly, this happened back sometime between 2006 and 2007, which is also when adult film actress Stormy Daniels alleges that she and the now-president had an affair together. Trump only recently acknowledged accusations of the affair earlier in April, after months upon months of headlines, and after Daniels herself participated in a slew of television interviews about the subject. His acknowledgement said he had no idea that his lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels $130,000 as part of a nondisclosure agreement regarding the alleged affair. Cohen has consistently denied the affair on Trump's behalf.

In more recent years, Markle has formally gone on record criticizing Trump. In a 2016 interview with The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, Markle described Trump as blatantly misogynistic. Specifically, she said:

Yes, of course Trump is divisive. Think about just female voters alone. [I think] it was 2012 the Republican party lost the female vote by 12 points. That's a huge number — and with as misogynistic as Trump is — and so vocal about it, that's a huge chunk of it ...Trump has made it easy to see that you don’t really want that kind of world that he’s painting.

Markle is set to marry Prince Harry on May 19, an event that is expected to dominate the attention of UK residents, as well as Anglophiles around the world. Reflections on Markle's previous interactions (or intentional non-interactions) with the current American president come as onlookers have spent months speculating whether the couple have invited former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama.

Whether the guest list will include the Obamas has been a point of fascination because many believe that if the former first family is invited, Trump will be very upset — especially if he and Melania were snubbed. However, Obama and Harry famously get along quite well, as was underscored over the holidays when a pre-recorder interview between Harry and the former American president aired on the BBC Radio 4.

Any invite for presidents, either former or current, will be viewed as a largely political decision, though USA Today reports that the public probably won't know who made the cut until the day itself. Royal weddings are not considered political events, however, which places the guest list in a particularly precarious position. Though Great Britain is one of the United States' greatest allies, Trump's relationship with British officials has been touch and go since he was elected to office.