Her father has disputed parts of that narrative, saying he regularly picked her up from school and that her childhood was more comfortable than she remembers. Still, Meghan has consistently said the most lasting impact came from the scrutiny she faced in public with her mother.
A Dark-Skinned Mom
Meghan has spoken about how people often assumed she was white, leading to awkward — and painful — encounters when she was with her Black mother.
“I just remember my mom telling me stories about taking me [to] the grocery store and a woman going, ‘Whose child is that?’” Meghan recalled. “‘No, you must be the nanny. Where’s her mom?’”
After her parents separated, Meghan lived with both until age nine, then primarily with her father until college. Her mother moved to a predominantly Black neighborhood and built a close community that helped raise her daughter.
“We had a nice network of women who really helped me raise Meg,” Doria said. “She was a very empathic child, very mature.”
Still, their bond wasn’t always conventional.
“She told me I felt like her older, controlling sister,” Doria admitted.