With a successful career as an actress, philanthropist, entrepreneur and now an engagement to Prince Harry in the bag, it's pretty hard to imagine Meghan Markle has anything to feel insecure about.

But just two years ago, the 36-year-old beauty penned a heartfelt message about her struggle to find her feet in the entertainment industry, crippling self-doubt and the turning point in her career that changed her life forever.

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Writing in Darling magazine about her early days auditioning for roles, the Californian-born star revealed she drop a 'beat-up Ford Explorer Sport that rattled like a steamboat engine' which was on the brink of a burn out, much like her enthusiasm to carve out a role for herself in Hollywood.

'Struggling, climbing hurdles, searching for something that I couldn't even see,' she wrote about her time as a budding actress.

'I was in my early 20s, still figuring so much out, and trying to find my value in an industry that judges you on everything that you're not versus everything that you are. Not thin enough, not pretty enough, not ethnic enough, while also being too thin, too ethnic, too pretty the very next day.'

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However, just when the Suits actress felt like reaching her dreams was 'unapologetically impossible', she met Hollywood casting director April Webster - famous for working on the likes of Star Wars, Lost and Mission Impossible - who made her realise her worth.

'I had never met her before, and at my very first audition for her, she stopped me mid-scene and said so simply, "You need to know that you're enough",' Markle recalled.

'She saw all that self-doubt beaming through the self-tanner and excessive blush.

I was in my early 20s, still figuring so much out

'"Less makeup, more Meghan",' Markle says Webster advised her. 'She went on to say that I was like a "shrinking violet", wilted joy and energy and exuberance behind this shroud of insecurity. You couldn't pay for a therapy session this good. And that moment, for me, was a wake-up call.'

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Fast forward six years and Markle had landed a leading role as paralegal Rachel Zane on a pilot show, which would later be known around the world as Suits.

She saw all that self-doubt beaming through the self-tanner and excessive blush

'Never would I have imagined that this show would not just change my career, but also change my life — that on my journey of trying to get what I wanted, of trying to see my dream come to fruition, I would learn who I am,' she added.

'That I would discover that I am enough.'

You can say that again, Meghan.

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Katie O'Malley
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Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.