Suits had to make “challenging” changes for Meghan Markle's safety
The Duchess of Sussex landed a breakout role on legal drama Suits – however, the set felt "a little bit dangerous" once she started dating Prince Harry.
Netflix dropped Harry & Meghan – the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's brand new docuseries – on its platform today, with the three-parter dishing out numerous royal revelations around the couple's relationship, including the effect it had on her job in US legal drama Suits.
Contributing to the documentary is Suits producer Silver Tree, who has revealed the "challenging" safety measures the show introduced to shield Meghan Markle from the press at the start of her relationship with Prince Harry.
The film producer, who also directed Suits, said in episode 2 that once her romance with Prince Harry became public, it "started feeling a little bit dangerous" for Meghan Markle on the show's set.
"The paparazzi started coming out to try to get eyes on her and there were people trying to buy call sheets from production assistants on our show so they could find out when she was shooting," she said.
"They'd get these really long lenses and like hide on hills so that they could get a view of her," she continued. "There were people breaking into the area where their trailers are, and trying to get pictures of her coming in and out of her trailer. [It] started feeling a little bit dangerous for her."
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Tree added that the production began to "cage in all the trailers" to protect the actor. "And that was really challenging logistically because she was on a TV show and her nature is to never make things more difficult for anyone," she added.
"But I don't think anyone knew how to manage that new normal. I was terrified somebody was gonna just be in her trailer waiting for her."
After Markle received a death threat, NBC hired personal security for the future Duchess, including security guard Steve Davies.
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"This has been the most intense situation with the media," he told the documentary. "My job was to make sure they didn't really know where we going and when we were going there.
"We had a special driver taking myself and Meghan to the studio all the time," he added. "He was trained in evasive driving and we used to have to take different routes to the studio to get away from the paparazzi that were chasing us.
"Mail was screened, it was coming into the studio. There were some things that came in that were a little bit out of the ordinary and we used to send those over to Harry's security detail in the UK and they used to take care of those situations and monitor what was going on."
Meanwhile, Markle's former personal assistant said that the Suits star's life "really did take a dark turn quickly" once she began dating the royal.
Markle joined the USA Network drama as paralegal Rachel Zane, a role she played from 2011 until 2018, leaving ahead of her wedding to Prince Harry.
Harry & Meghan: Part I is now streaming on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £6.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
Check out more of our Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.
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