Meghan: A Hollywood Princess(20)
While they made a perfect-looking college couple, they had their differences. Steve’s sports ambitions meant that he had to forego partying and turn in early, and the night before any game, Meghan was not welcome to stay over. Meghan, on the other hand, was a party animal who enjoyed the freedom college offered away from her parents, and drinking and staying out late.
While she may have lost her freshman-year boyfriend, Meghan did make two very close friends at Northwestern who would stay with her for life.
It was during a literature class, discussing the work of African American writer Toni Morrison, that she first met Lindsay Jill Roth, a petite blond from Lattingtown, New York, a wealthy Long Island suburb with million-dollar homes overlooking Oyster Bay. Her parents were attorneys, though her mother had retired. Unlike Meghan’s friends from Immaculate Heart, Lindsay was Jewish. Smart, funny, and articulate, the two girls would study together, go out drinking and dancing, and chat long into the night, talking up a storm.
Her other best friend could not have been more different. The son of two pastors, Larnelle Quentin Foster was a flamboyant, larger-than-life African American who hid the fact that he was gay from his family and friends—although he eventually confided in Meghan. Meghan and Larnelle took classes together in the School of Communications after Meghan changed her major from English to a dual major of theater arts and international relations. The twin major reflected her indecision about whether to pursue a career in politics and the diplomatic world or strive for screen stardom. Though the latter was, as she recognized, something of an LA cliché, she was in good company—Warren Beatty, Stephen Colbert, Zach Braff, and David Schwimmer all learned their trade at the school. Larnelle, however, couldn’t help but notice that her enthusiasm was more for Hollywood than the State Department. The two, who attended everything from student productions to avant-garde offerings, enjoyed discussing the theatrical structure and language of a play as much as performing. Meghan took parts in the short films made by fellow students, and she also slipped away from campus to attend auditions for TV commercials. She was doing what college students have done for years: trying the new and the difficult and seeing what fits. On weekends Meghan would often go to Larnelle’s family home for meals, the two friends trying out different recipes, including Meghan’s current specialty, Indian food.
The Foster family adored Meghan, attracted by her quirky sense of humor and her effervescent smile. She even accepted their invitation to join them at church. “Larnelle, you know if I had my way, you’d settle down with Meghan. I just love that girl,” his mother told him. “I know, Mom,” he replied. He also knew that he would break his mother’s heart if she discovered that he was gay. For the time being Meghan was his cover, and he in turn provided her with companionship and an escort, a role which made him the envy of many of the straight guys on campus. “How do you go out with her?” they asked him. “Because I’m not trying anything!” laughed Larnelle.
Meghan’s two closest friends represented the duality of her heritage, the iconoclastic, eccentric and independent African American and the white professional. Their presence helped her to explore and integrate these sides of her personality, absorbing and synthesizing as she grew into her own identity.
Between semesters, it was a relief to be back in Los Angeles not only for the weather but also for the diversity, where the blond and blue-eyed are a minority. As she learned, though, the image of tolerance and acceptance was a veneer that easily scratched.
She tells a story about one night she and her mom went to a concert. As Doria was slowly backing her Volvo out of the parking space, another driver impatiently yelled at her, using the N-word. Meghan flushed, her skin prickling with frustration, feeling as well Doria’s pain and rage. Meghan looked at her mother and saw her eyes welling with tears. Meghan whispered the only words she could manage: “It’s okay, Mommy.” But it wasn’t okay. They drove home in silence, blood pounding in Meghan’s ears, Doria’s fingers gripping the steering wheel tightly.
The practical experience of growing up biracial was used as a jumping-off point for discussions Meghan and seven other classmates had with their history and theater professor, Harvey Young, whose seminars focused on African American plays and their meaning, impact, and history. Meghan, who had moved between two communities throughout her life, was very aware of how people responded to race, racial differences, and the idea of otherness. Young said, “She had a very sophisticated understanding of what it means to live in a racial body that gets perceived and is treated differently based upon communities in which you find yourself.”
Young’s class brought into focus Meghan’s ambiguous place in society. She later recalled: “It was the first time I could put a name to feeling too light in the black community, too mixed in the white community.”
Her experiences at Northwestern, both in and out of the classroom, and the self-knowledge she gained would serve her well, arming her with insight and inner strength when she tried to penetrate the smooth, evasive structure that is Hollywood.
By the start of her junior year, it was clear that if Meghan continued at her current pace she would earn most of her credits for her degree way ahead of schedule. As she had time on her side and was still unsure about her path after college, she decided to go into the field to gain some practical experience in international relations. She knew that her uncle Mick Markle was employed as a specialist in communication systems for the US government—the talk in the family was that he worked for the CIA, the government’s overseas spying arm. So she approached him to ask for his help in getting her an internship abroad with the State Department. “Meghan, I will help you if I can,” he replied. Help he did. Uncle Mick pulled a few strings, and even though Meghan was quite late in turning in the application paperwork, that was overlooked because of her excellent academic record and her uncle’s influence. Soon after, she was informed that she had secured a six-week internship as a junior press officer at the American embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina.