Teenage years brought familiar insecurities — intensified by feeling racially and socially “in between.”
“I was a big nerd growing up,” Meghan said. “I was not the pretty one. My identity was wrapped up in being the smart one.”
That intelligence showed early. At just 11, she wrote a letter protesting a sexist TV commercial — and succeeded.
Despite financial limits, she found gratitude in small pleasures.
“I grew up on the $4.99 salad bar at Sizzler,” she said. “I felt lucky.”
A turning point came when her father won $750,000 in the lottery. Her half-brother later said the money helped open doors.
“That money allowed [her] to go to the best schools,” he said. “[She] doesn’t stop until she gets what she wants.”
Chasing Dreams and Finding Herself
Meghan worked from a young age — babysitting, selling donuts, and absorbing life on TV sets where her father worked.
“A really funny and perverse place for a little girl in a Catholic school uniform to grow up,” she joked.
But identity struggles followed her into adulthood.
“I wasn’t black enough for the black roles and I wasn’t white enough for the white ones,” she said of early acting auditions.