Meghan Markleis living the low-key California life; from shopping at her local farmers market last month to going for sushi in Montecito and daytime hikes. This week the royal even made a rare appearance in a group selfie, whilst dining out for her 42nd birthday, with her friends Kadi Lee and Cleo Wade. Alongside the picture shared on Instagram Kadi wrote, ‘Belated birthday celebrations with these lovely muses'.
Of course, we know Meghan Markle has a number of famous friends within her inner circle from Serena Williams to PriyankaChopra Jonas - but what about her friends who are more relatively unknown? After this Instagram picture was shared it is clear that the Duchess has added a few more well-connected pals in her orbit. So, who are Meghan's California pals? Here is everything we know…
Who is Kadi Lee?
Kadi Lee is a hairdresser, who runs the salon 'Highbrow Hippie' in Venice, California. Kadi and her long-time friend and beauty entrepreneur, Myka Harris, began Highbrow Hippie as a blog and later opened their beautiful atelier on Abbott Kinney Boulevard in 2019. Meghan and Kadi don’t appear to be new friends as she has often posted about colouring the Duchess’ hair on Instagram.
Kadi has a roster of other A-list clients; they include Oscar-winning actress Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and Sigourney Weaver. Clearly friendly beyond just the salon chair, she also recently attended a talk by Michelle Obama with Julia.
Many will remember that hair stylist Serge Normant famously styled Meghan's locks for her royal wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018. Since then he has teamed up with Kadi; Serge, Kadi and makeup artist Daniel Martin were the Duchess' glam squad when Meghan received her Women of Vision Award at the Ms. Foundation Gala in New York back in May 2023.
Who is Cleo Wade?
33-year-old Cleo Wade from New Orleans is probably even more connected in the entertainment world. Cleo is an author, poet and activist and is often spotted in the front row at fashion week.
Cleo is engaged to Simon Kinberg, an Oscar-nominated filmmaker who wrote the X-men films, produced Deadpool and The Martian. They have two daughters together born in 2020 and 2021 respectively. Before her engagement with Simon, Cleo was in a two-year relationship with Senator Cory Booker. In 2019, following her split with the Senator, she donated to Vice President Kamala Harris's presidential campaign, and moderated her campaign speeches around the country. Before her romance with Booker, she was also linked to actor Robert Pattinson.
Before her success as a poet (she has published four best-selling books), Cleo worked as a stylist for pop-star Katy Perry. She also counts Perry, Drew Barrymore and Nicole Richie among her fans and close friends. Reese Witherspoon also speaks highly of her, saying that her fans 'revere her in the way that you would adore your favourite loving, creative aunt or older sister.'
Markus Anderson
In May, Markle and Markus were spotted on a hike in California alongside friend Heather Dorak. Back when Meghan's social media profiles were public, they revealed a timeline of their close friendship. Not only have they taken multiple holidays together, but she regularly sang his praises on her Instagram account.'What would I do without you, my loving, supportive, and endlessly fun friend??' she said about Anderson in a now-deleted post. 'I know what....I would be bored, and life would be infinitely less interesting. I love you SO much. Happiest of days for you now and always. Love you xx'
Who is Markus Anderson?
Markus Anderson is a consultant for Soho House, a members-only club with locations all over the world from New York and London to Toronto, Istanbul, and Mumbai. While his career has taken him all over the globe, Anderson was born in Canada.
It is also believed he helped facilitate Meghan meeting Prince Harry. While previous rumours point to designer Misha Nonoo as the matchmaker (Markle's close friend, Nonoo was, until recently, married to Alexander Gilkes, a friend of Princes William and Harry), it was more recently reported that Anderson, who apparently knows the Prince socially, set the pair up in May 2016.
'He asked Markus if he could set up, not a date, but an opportunity for them to meet and that happened in one of the private rooms of Soho House,' claims royal expert Katie Nicholls. 'There were about seven or eight of them altogether and it was a perfect opportunity for Harry and Meghan to come together in a really informal environment and actually talk.'
Now, we know after their bombshell Netflix documentary,Harry & Meghan, the royal couple did indeed meet at Soho House. Whilst they didn’t give every single detail as to how they ended up there, this theory seems to add up…
The nature of Markus' job means he is very well connected. He is known to associate with the likes of designers like Nonoo, Christopher Kane, and the late Alexander McQueen, model Alexa Chung,and actor Jamie Dornan.
Heather Dorak?
Heather Dorak has been the Duchess of Sussex's devoted friend for many years and the pair are often spotted out and about together in LA. They have also posted a number of sweet Instagram pictures together over the years doing yoga and attending other fitness classes. In May, she was also spotted on a hike with the Duchess and close friend Markus Anderson.
Heather has been a key part of Meghan's North American inner circle, visiting the royal couple in Canada in January 2020 shortly after they left the UK after stepping back as senior royals.
Who is Heather Dorak?
Heather Dorak is a Pilates and yoga instructor who originates from San Antonio, Texas but is now based in California. She now owns and runs six Pilates Platinum studios.
Heather became Meghan's coach many years ago when she worked on the TV show Suits. In a social media post from 2015 Heather said she was celebrating ten years of friendship with Meghan, adding that she was 'one of my first clients'. The pair have shared holidays and days out together, including a trip to a Vancouver Canucks hockey game in 2015. Heather even contributed her fitness expertise to Meghan’s former lifestyle blog The Tig before she closed it down.
Heather also attended Meghan's 2015 speech at the UN Women's 20th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference of Women in Beijing event in New York City with Meghan's mother Doria Ragland.
In 2021 Heather took to social media in defence of the Duchess in light of the increased tabloid scrutiny. She wrote on Instagram, 'It’s hard for me to watch her go through all that she has to as the Meghan the press can love to hate. Mostly because it’s so far from the Meghan that I know. Sweet. Kind. Always showing up!
'Two weeks ago, she was the first to surprise me with a gift after my knee surgery. 17 years ago, she walked into my fledgling Pilates studio and instantly became my rock in all things early 20s - career, love, figuring out how to adult.
She continued, 'Since that day, she has never stopped being one of my brightest sources of light. It may be hard to see, but she lives for the little, thoughtful things – flowers for no reason, a random sweet, handwritten note. She’s always been truly wonderful.'