As we have said before, Meghan Markle is living out the fantasy of young girls (and young women, for that matter) across the world. She met and fell in love with a literal Prince Charming (or at least, a charming prince), and after their storybook wedding, she seemed destined for her own “happily ever after.”
Unlike fairytale princesses, however, Meghan still has to deal with an angry stepsister as well as other Royal Family members who aren’t pleased with her rebellious antics. However, this is nothing new: Meghan has allegedly caused plenty of chaos in her most serious relationships, and she’s left behind a trail of angry exes who aren’t afraid to tell the world how they really feel.
Don’t believe it? Keep reading to discover the most shocking things Meghan Markle’s exes have said about her!
Her first husband felt hurt and betrayed
When they hear the words “Meghan Markle’s husband,” most people naturally think of Meghan’s current husband, Prince Harry. It’s easy to forget that the duchess was married before to producer Trevor Engelson. They met in 2004 and got married in 2011, and their relationship might have gone the distance if not for how strained it became when Markle moved to Canada to film Suits, the show that transformed her into a household name.
The relationship was dead by 2013, and according to royal biographer Andrew Morton, it didn’t die quietly. As reported by the Mirror, Meghan mailed her engagement ring and wedding ring back to her ex-husband; because of this, he could “could barely contain his anger” and was left feeling like “a piece of something stuck to the bottom of Meghan’s shoe.” Even Meghan’s former Maid of Honor Ninaki Priddy was horrified by how cold Meghan was, and she ended up avoiding the future royal altogether.
RELATED: Shocking Secrets Of Meghan Markle’s Previous Marriage
Matt Cardle had a ‘weird’ online flirtation with Meghan Markle
One of the few things Meghan Markle has in common with many of us is that she apparently gets excited by the prospect of flirting with people online. That was the case with The X Factor winner Matt Cardle: in 2015, after he became a musical star in Memphis, Meghan reached out to him via social media, causing a kind of flirtatious online relationship that never became physical or otherwise serious.
Looking back on their online flirtation, Cardle (who ended things right away when he met his girlfriend Amber Hernaman) seems amused and even a little wigged out. As he later told The Sun, “It was just a very weird situation — very odd. And I really don’t know how it came about.” However, he doesn’t have any regrets about Meghan being the one who got away: “Life’s got a course and I was not on that one.”
Cory Vitiello was ‘relieved’ Meghan wanted to split up
One of Meghan Markle’s more fascinating exes is Cory Vitiello, the man she was dating right before she started dating Prince Harry. Meghan met the successful Toronto restauranteur in 2014 when the Suits cast ate at his restaurant. According to Newsweek, royal biographer Tom Bower is convinced the duo started dishing up something special together soon afterward: “Shortly afterwards, Vitiello ended a relationship and started to date Meghan. Together they rented a three-bedroomed home in the city’s Annex district.”
As near as we can tell, this was Meghan’s most serious relationship since she broke up with Trevor Engelson. Moving in together is a fairly big step, and while these two might have been happy in the beginning, that wasn’t destined to last. Page Six reports that it was Meghan who called it quits on the relationship and Vitiello was “relieved” when she did so because “the final months [together] had been unpleasant.”
RELATED: 8 Shady Things About Meghan Markle Everyone Ignores
Did Meghan cheat on Vitiello with Prince Harry?
After her relationship with Cory Vitiello ended, Meghan Markle met Prince Harry. We all know how that went: the two fell in love and soon (too soon, according to Prince William) got married. But depending on who you talk to, that fairy tale happily ever after is built on an ugly secret: Meghan may have been cheating on Vitiello with Prince Harry.
At one point, Vitiello was asked point-blank if Prince Harry was the reason that his relationship with Meghan Markle fell apart. According to The Sun, he responded with a simple and perhaps gentlemanly “I can’t comment on that.” There is a chance he was even asked to hold his tongue by Meghan herself, but the timeline of the different relationships really speaks for itself. In short, Meghan and Vitiello were still together in 2016 when Prince Harry flew out to Toronto to meet up with his future wife.
Obviously, we’re happy that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are happy together. We just wish Meghan didn’t leave such a trail of destructive heartbreak and possibly build her future life on a home wrecking lie to her ex!