Who is Trevor Engelson, an entertainment industry insider who's now perhaps better known
as Meghan Markle's ex-husband? Let's get to know the man who popped the question
long before a certain Prince Harry came into the picture.
Trevor Engelson started at the bottom. According to the book,
Meghan: A Hollywood Princess, Meghan Markle's ex-husband started working as a production
assistant when he was still in high school in New York City, before studying at the
Annenberg School of Cinematic Arts at USC. He graduated in 1998, and per Engelson's FX bio,
his first job out of college was as an assistant on Deep Blue Sea in 1999.
Since then, he's produced the rom-com License To Wed, the goofball Bradley Cooper and Sandra
Bullock movie All About Steve, and the Robert Pattinson-led Remember Me. More recent projects
include the FX series Snowfall and the controversial Heathers television reboot.
In addition to TV and movie production, Engelson is also a talent agent,
having opened his own agency after several jobs in the industry.
Engelson has managed various talent at Underground Films, including screenwriters, novelists, actors,
and directors in the Los Angeles area. The company also opened a New York office in 2012.
Though Trevor Engelson and Meghan Markle were only married for two years, they were actually
together for a long time before they tied the knot. The Sun reports that Engelson and his royal
ex-wife first met in 2004, and dated for almost seven years before they wed in September 2011.
Prince Harry and Markle, meanwhile, got engaged after only about a year and a half of dating,
and then had their fairy tale wedding at Windsor Castle just six months later.
“Just an amazing surprise. It was so sweet and natural and very romantic. He got on one knee.”
However, if The Sun is to be believed, Engelson and Markle's wedding sure did sound like a blast.
According to the report, the nuptials took place over a span of four days in Jamaica,
with the actual wedding taking place on the third day. The couple apparently hosted parties that
included everything from wheelbarrow races to drinking games on the beach.
As for their actual ceremony? Reportedly, the whole thing took just 15 minutes.
A short ceremony in favor of days-long partying? That's pretty much every wedding guest's dream.
Apparently, Trevor Engelson wasn't known to visit Meghan Markle when she
was a briefcase model on Deal Or No Deal while they were still together. In fact,
according to Meghan: A Hollywood Princess, Engelson also skipped out on traveling with
Markle during her downtime from filming, because he was occupied with his own work as a producer.
“Meghan, open the case.”
Author Andrew Morton also alleged in the book that Markle was, at times,
disappointed that Engelson didn't help get her cast in more of his projects, though he
did get her a bit part in Remember Me in 2010, as well as a short film called The Candidate,
in which she played a secretary and showcased her calligraphy skills.
Meghan Markle and Trevor Engelson married the same
year that her acting career took off with Suits, which
allegedly proved to be their union’s downfall. According to a source cited by Woman's Day:
"Meghan landed her role in Suits just a few months before they married. Trevor was based in LA while
Meghan was in Toronto, a five-hour flight away. It was a very difficult way to start married life."
The duo reportedly turned to Skype and Facetime to stay connected, but this
apparently did little to improve the difficult situation. As another insider claimed to The Sun:
"Trevor was devastated at the split. She suddenly had no more time for him.
Meghan broke Trevor's heart, pure and simple. He is still in love
with her and so the revelation of her new relationship with Harry has hit him hard."
In his biography of Meghan Markle, Meghan: A Hollywood Princess,
author Andrew Morton claimed that the Duchess of Sussex dumped ex-husband Trevor Engelson
by mail after rising to middling fame on Suits. Morton wrote:
"[Engelson] went from cherishing Meghan to, as one friend observed,
'Feeling like he was a piece of something stuck to the bottom of her shoe.' [...] A
wealthy entrepreneur friend claimed the marriage ended so abruptly that
Meghan sent Trevor her diamond wedding and engagement rings back by registered mail."
Morton also wrote that, as Meghan gained professional success,
her personal life suffered, and the so-called "Meghan chill" extended to her friends, as well.
She reportedly left the home she and Engelson shared, taking a blender with her,
to move to Toronto to film Suits. He tried moving to be closer to her, but she still wanted out,
allegedly because of his supposed, quote, "scattered approach to life."
In an ITV documentary on Meghan Markle called Prince Harry and Meghan: Truly, Madly, Deeply,
the duchess' friend, actress Abby Wathen, claimed Markle simply felt the relationship with Trevor
Engelson wasn't right for her anymore in light of her newfound success. As Wathen alleged:
"She always knew she would be successful, she just [...] knew it. She knows what she wants
and she gets it. We both went through divorce, so we bonded on that too. I was destroyed, but she
was empowered. She took her power back. It wasn't the right relationship for her, so she moved on."
A day before Meghan Markle's royal wedding to Prince Harry took place in May 2018,
insiders revealed that Trevor Engelson was pretty sick of hearing about his ex on every news outlet.
A source claimed to Us Weekly that the producer was, quote, "skipping town" ahead of the nuptials
to avoid all the hoopla, but it's unclear where he was headed — just that it was out of the country.
It's understandable that Engelson would feel the need to escape,
since his Google alerts have likely been blowing up ever since Markle
and Prince Harry's romance made headlines. According to another insider cited by The Sun:
"This attention on him since the Harry relationship is something he has loathed [...] He
and Meghan are a world away from that Hollywood happy divorce declaration of 'conscious
uncoupling' — where people split up, but remain friends like Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow."
Trevor Engelson began to develop a series allegedly based on his divorce from Meghan Markle.
In September 2017, Deadline reported that Engelson was working on a single-camera comedy,
with Modern Family executive producer Danny Zuker, about a divorcé whose ex-wife marries
a prince. While Engelson insisted at the time that it wasn't based on true events,
it was likely at least slightly inspired by Markle's newfound fame as a royal.
However, in May 2018 — just before Markle's wedding to Prince
Harry — The Sun reported that Markle's entertainment industry friends talked
Engelson out of pursuing the project. A source claimed:
"The couple has barely spoken since their divorce, but she did reach out
to him — with Harry's agreement — to thank him for not telling their story in public.
The TV pilot was a shock, but now everything is paused [...] Trevor
has still not confirmed yet if he will walk away from the project."
Meghan Markle wasn't the only one to move on with a famous face: after she and Trevor Engelson
divorced, he had something of a fling with The Real Housewives of New York alum Bethenny Frankel.
Frankel told The Kyle and Jackie O Show in April 2018 that she met Engelson in Chicago,
and they went out just one time but kept texting.
She claimed he revealed to her that he'd been previously married to, quote,
"this girl named Meghan Markle from the TV show Suits." At the time, Frankel said she
had no idea who Markle was. When she later realized Markle and Prince Harry were dating,
Frankel said she and Engelson began texting again, and they later collaborated on a pilot.
Trevor Engelson remarried, tying the knot with a beautiful blonde nutritionist
named Tracey Kurland. A source told The Sun that Engelson met Kurland through mutual friends,
and that they first began dating in 2017. Kurland is based in Los Angeles and used to intern for
Twelfth Street, a fashion retailer that — fun fact — Pippa Middleton reportedly loves.
The pair got engaged in May 2018, just weeks after Meghan Markle and Prince Harry tied the knot,
Us Weekly reported. Engelson apparently made the announcement on his private Instagram page,
captioning a photo with Kurland, who was sporting a brand new sparkler on that finger, with:
"Luckiest guy I know. Get ready to party!"
The happy couple later got hitched in May 2019 — less than a week after Markle and
Prince Harry welcomed their son, Archie. In April 2020, Us Weekly reported that Engelson
and Kurland would be expecting their first child, a baby girl, in September.
Despite their apparent bitter split,
Trevor Engelson won't badmouth Meghan Markle now that she's one of the most famous women on
the planet — even when allegedly being offered upwards of $1 million for a tell-all on his ex.
As of May 2020, he hasn't commented on the Duchess of Sussex publicly and maintains a low profile,
with all of his social media accounts set to private. When the Daily Mail caught up with him
outside a Los Angeles hair salon following the bombshell Megxit announcement that January,
he politely declined to comment. This silence on
the matter reportedly extends into his private life as well.
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