Meghan Markle’s Mom Convinced Meg’s Ex To Scrap TV Show Based On Royals
“Divorce is hard. Sharing custody is harder. Sharing custody with the British Royal family when your wife marries a prince, in the unforgiving spotlight of London’s tabloid media, is next level.”
So began the official pitch for the show Meghan Markle’s ex-husband, Trevor Engelson, was working on for Fox, per Town and Country. However, The Sun revealed that Meghan’s mom, Doria Ragland, managed to contact Engelson and convince him to shelve the project.
The show was supposed to be a divorce comedy centered on a man who must manage child custody with his ex-wife, who marries a British prince. According to Town and Country, the idea came up when Engelson was chatting with Dan Farah, producer of The Shannara Chronicles. The pair joked about what would have happened had Engelson and Markle had children, and the sitcom idea was born.
In addition to Farah, Modern Family executive producer Danny Zuker and New Girl‘s Jake Kasdan were brought on the since-scrapped project.
Meghan married Engelson in 2011 after a seven year relationship. However the marriage did not last long, and the two divorced less than two years later.
There have been rumors about the amicability of the split. Andrew Morton’s biography, Meghan: A Hollywood Princess, reveals that the split came as a shock to the Hollywood producer, per The Times.
“A wealthy entrepreneur friend claimed the marriage ended so abruptly that Meghan sent her wedding and engagement rings back to Trevor by registered post. Another confirmed that the decision to end the marriage was made by Meghan and that it had come ‘totally out of the blue.'”
Meghan Markle Ended First Marriage To Trevor Engelson 'Out Of The Blue,' New Book Claims (via @Fox411) https://t.co/8vGeImph7f
— TMZ (@TMZ) April 3, 2018
However, though the Duchess of Sussex and Engelson are rumored to have a frosty relationship, The Sun reports that Doria remained on friendly terms with the University of Southern California alum.
The paper claimed that Doria staged an “intervention,” which convinced Engelson to drop the project.
Despite the loss of this show, Engelson is keeping busy; he is currently an executive producer both on FX’s Snowfall and the Netflix film, 13 Minutes. He also is planning his own second wedding to nutritionist Tracey Kurland.
Meanwhile, Meghan is soon expecting her first child with husband Prince Harry. Doria, in addition to being an intermediary with Engelson, is also reportedly going to aid her daughter and son-in-law with the newborn by traveling to the United Kingdom.
Though Doria managed to stop a fictionalized account of her daughter, she is ironically soon to be the target of one herself. As reported by The Inquisitr, a new romance novel called Royal Holiday is allegedly inspired by the famous mom.
