While they played dad and daughter on Suits for seven seasons, took it upon himself to give some fatherly advice.
Pierce, 60, recalled a moment when he spoke to Markle, 42, about dating during filming.
“I’m always reminded of the last day working with Meghan, which was the wedding scene prior to her engagement to the prince,” Pierce explained to E! News during an interview on Saturday, April 6. “I said, ‘Meghan, your life is going to be a whirlwind. You’re going to be in this bubble.'”
The actor wanted to assure Markle that even though her life was changing because of the relationship she was in, she could always reach out to him and any of the other Suits cast members if she needed support.
He continued, adding that he told her, “’I just want you to remember that no matter what happens, you always have friends and I hope you count me in that number.’ I’m so grateful that I was able to express that to her before the whirlwind engagement and [the] wedding and becoming the duchess.”
While Markle, who played paralegal Rachel Zane on Suits, left the series during the seventh season, Pierce, who appeared as her dad, attorney Robert Zane, stayed on for two more before the show ended in 2019.
Pierce confessed that staying in touch with his onscreen daughter after she married Prince Harry in May 2018 was tough, but now that the couple has stepped back from the royal family and moved to California, he has been able to reunite with her.
“We were at a public function together and she was receiving an award,” Pierce noted. “It was great to see them because there’s this public persona, and then it’s the two that I know.”
Pierce has often gushed about the Duchess of Sussex. In a March episode of Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?, the star opened up about how much he admires her as an actress and a person.
“She’s wonderful. She’s wonderful as both. She’s the nicest person ever,” Pierce, expressed. “And I actually, the one thing that bothers me the most right now for Meghan is the fact that I know she would love to act again.”
While Markle hasn’t stepped back into any major TV or movie roles since leaving Hollywood, she did just trademark her lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard, which she is planning to sell a string of domestic items, including cutlery, cookbooks and jarred foods through.
