We’ve all gone through a rebrand of sorts at one point or another – just ask anyone who remembers social media during the MySpace or Bebo days. And it seems Meghan Markle is no different.
Yep, people these days are used to growing up with some sort of online presence, whether we like it or not, and that unfortunately means every dodgy haircut or embarrassingly oversaturated Instagram pic is documented through time.
While we can try and frantically delete every cringeworthy Facebook status, we all know that the internet likes to remember, often making it hard to erase the parts we’d like to forget fully.
And the same goes for Meghan Markle, whose old Instagram account recently resurfaced on Reddit this week, leaving people fascinated.
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Meghan returned to the platform earlier this year, making her debut under her new ‘@meghan’ handle with a photo of her running along the beach and writing ‘2025’ in the sand.
The following day, she also revealed that she’d be releasing her very own Netflix series, which premiered in March and focused on her As Ever lifestyle brand.
Before all that, though, she was actually on Insta as @meghanmarkle, and things looked very different – not least because the Duchess of Sussex was a big fan of a filter, but then who wasn’t?
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But there was one detail that Reddit users were slightly distracted by, with one asking: “How did she get the handle @meghan ?! Just called up IG and they made it happen?"
With 48 upvotes, it’s clear many others were curious about the same point.
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“I’m glad I’m not the only person who immediately wondered that,” one commented.
Others even took a stab at cracking the code, with someone else responding: “At her level of fame IG gives it to you if you ask. They did that with the Sussex handle too.
"It was owned by someone else with minimal followers and IG just took it. It's in their clause that they can take it whenever they want.”
Another claimed: "I used to work at two other social media companies (that aren’t IG), and a large brand or celeb can ask for any handle and get it. As long as the account has been inactive (sometimes users will log in but not post) for six months.
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"I had the ‘power’ to do that and did handle swaps for a lot of politicians, big name reporters, etc."
One person also noted how Meghan had ‘a lot of cooking posts’ on her old account - a detail that others used to defend some of the hate she’s had recently for her As Ever brand.
“This is what irks me - she’s ALWAYS been like this,” one explained.
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“She’s always been into the homemade/DIY lifestyle. And her haters make it out like she just ‘discovered’ it and making bank out of it. UGH.
"I used to follow The Tig and enjoyed it!”
Another echoed: “I didn’t use to follow her and only heard about her insta and The Tig when it hit the news that she had to shut them down. I managed to get a little peek then.
"If anything, it just further solidifies the idea, for me, that her As Ever business is authentic and something she really has in her heart."
They added: "She’s the same person she was on insta (older, wiser, tougher skin, happier, but you get my drift). She now has better means and connections to do what she has probably always wanted to do.
"That’s a dream come true, truly."
Topics: Meghan Markle, Instagram, Celebrity, Reddit
Jess Hardiman