A guide to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's celebrity friends, from Ellen DeGeneres to the Clooneys

Meghan Markle sits down with Ellen Degeneres on "The Ellen Degeneres Show."
Meghan Markle sits down with Ellen Degeneres on "The Ellen Degeneres Show."The Ellen Degeneres Show/Twitter
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  • Prince Harry and Meghan Markle live in Montecito, California, with many celebrity neighbors.

  • Harry and Orlando Bloom text each other about nearby paparazzi in the neighborhood.

  • Harry and Meghan recently attended Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi's vow renewal.

Serena Williams and Meghan Markle became friends in 2014 while playing in the DirecTV Beach Bowl, and they continue to support each other.

Meghan Markle and Serena Williams laugh and talk in 2014.
Meghan Markle and Serena Williams in 2014.Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for DirecTV

Meghan and Williams remained friends over the years, appearing in Instagram posts together and congratulating each other on their accomplishments.

Williams and her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, attended the couple's wedding in 2018.

They have continued to lean on each other, with Williams releasing a statement calling Meghan "truly noble" after her and Harry's interview with Oprah Winfrey aired in March 2021.

Williams was Meghan's first guest on her Spotify podcast "Archetypes" in August.

Priyanka Chopra met Meghan at Elle's Women in Television dinner in January 2016 and remains a close friend.

Priyanka Chopra in 2017.
Priyanka Chopra.Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

Chopra spoke about her friendship with Meghan in Elle's February 2019 issue.

"Megs … she was always meant for big things," Chopra said. "To be a change and be an important voice in doing that. It's amazing that she found that calling and has the platform to be able to do it."

Chopra also called out Wendy Williams in 2017 for referring to Meghan as only Harry's girlfriend and ignoring her other achievements.

Harry and George Clooney met through their philanthropy, and the Clooneys hosted Harry and Meghan at their villa in Lake Como, Italy.

Amal and George Clooney at Meghan and Harry's royal wedding.
Amal and George Clooney at the royal wedding.Gareth Fuller/WPA Pool/Getty Images

Harry and Clooney connected through their philanthropic work. Clooney is the co-founder of Not on Our Watch, an organization which aims to minimize genocide in Sudan, and the Clooney Foundation For Justice with his wife, Amal, a human rights lawyer. Harry co-founded Sentebale in 2006, a charity focused on the mental health and well-being of HIV-stricken children in Lesotho and Botswana.

The Clooneys attended the royal wedding in May 2018. A few months later in August, they offered the royal couple a respite from intense scrutiny by inviting them to their Villa Oleandra, their 25-room luxury residence on Lake Como in Italy.

Clooney reportedly flew the couple over on his private jet and had an unmarked motorcade escort them to the property.

Harry and David Beckham have bonded over being fathers.

David and Victoria Beckham at Meghan and Harry's wedding
David Beckham and Victoria Beckham arrive at the royal wedding.CHRIS RADBURN/AFP via Getty Images

The Beckhams became friends with the royal family through attending many functions together over the years. David Beckham told Esquire in 2013 that they have a "very normal relationship."

Beckham has also stayed in touch with Harry since he stepped back from royal life.

"I haven't spoken to Harry about him moving. We speak as friends and that's the most important thing for me," Beckham told Entertainment Tonight in 2020. "I think he's enjoying being a young father for the first time and that's what we always spoke about. When you are a parent, it changes everything for you. He always needs to be happy."

Back when Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez were still a couple, they went on a double date with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez pose together at an event.
Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez.Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

E! News reported that the two power couples met for dinner at Habitat, a restaurant at 1 Hotel in Miami, while Harry and Meghan were in Florida for an appearance at a JPMorgan event.

Lopez is now married to old flame Ben Affleck.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z paid tribute to the royal couple while accepting a BRIT Award in 2019, then met in person at the premiere of "The Lion King."

Beyoncé and Jay-Z meet and talk with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the premiere of "The Lion King."
Beyoncé and Jay-Z meet Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the premiere of "The Lion King."NIKLAS HALLE'N/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Beyoncé and Jay-Z recorded their BRIT Award acceptance speech for best international group in front of a portrait of Meghan, referencing their music video for "Apesh*t" where they stood in front of the Mona Lisa.

Beyoncé also featured the portrait, painted by artist Tim O'Brien, on Instagram in a February 2019 post, and included Meghan on her website in honor of Black History Month.

"In honor of Black History Month, we bow down to one of our Melanated Monas," she captioned the post. "Congrats on your pregnancy! We wish you so much joy."

The two couples finally met at the premiere of "The Lion King" in July 2019. The Daily Mail's Rebecca English reported that Jay-Z encouraged the new parents to "always find some time for yourself."

Katharine McPhee, who was a classmate of Meghan's, says her husband, David Foster, and Harry have a "really, really beautiful relationship."

David Foster and Katharine McPhee.
David Foster and Katharine McPhee.Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Meghan and McPhee attended the same school growing up. They got back in touch when Foster helped arrange for the royal couple to stay in a friend's Vancouver Island mansion.

"I felt honored that I was able to help Meghan there, because I'm a Canadian and we're a commonwealth country, we're the Crown's. It's important to us, so I grew up with that kind of sentiment," Foster told the Daily Mail in 2020. "I was really happy to be able to help them to find a respite just to take a little time off."

McPhee told Access Hollywood in 2020 that Harry and Foster also share a close bond.

"My husband has a really, really beautiful relationship with Harry. They're like, they're so cute. They're like father and son," she said.

Meghan's former co-star on "Suits," Patrick J. Adams, defends her on Twitter.

Patrick J. Adams and Troian Bellisario at the royal wedding.
Patrick J. Adams and Troian Bellisario at the royal wedding.Ian West - WPA Pool/Getty Images

Adams, whose character was engaged to Meghan's on the show, joked on Twitter that "She said she was just going out to get some milk..." when news of her engagement to Harry broke.

He has continued to stand by Meghan amid the controversy surrounding her and Harry's retreat from royal life. Earlier this year, Adams wrote a pointed Twitter thread calling out the British royal family and slamming the British media's treatment of the Duchess of Sussex, saying it "sickened" him to see their "obscene" treatment of her.

Meghan and Harry entrusted their friend Oprah Winfrey with an exclusive interview about their departure from royal life.

Oprah Winfrey interviews Meghan and Harry
Oprah Winfrey spoke to Meghan and Harry in an interview.Harpo Productions/Joe Pugliese via Getty Images

Winfrey's friendship with the couple began in 2018, when Meghan invited her to Kensington Palace. Winfrey then hosted Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, at her home in Montecito, California, and sent her home with a basket of kumquats.

In 2019, Harry and Winfrey began working together on an Apple TV docuseries about mental health called "The Me You Can't See." And when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were ready to open up about leaving royal life behind, they granted Winfrey the coveted interview. They now live down the road from each other in Montecito.

They're also friends with Winfrey's best friend, "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King, who attended their wedding and Markle's baby shower in 2019.

When Harry and Meghan's royal support was removed, Tyler Perry stepped in to provide them with security and let them stay in his home.

Tyler Perry poses at the Oscars.
Tyler Perry.Chris Pizzello/Getty

Harry and Meghan told Winfrey that they moved to Los Angeles with their son, Archie, because their location in Canada, where they had initially settled after stepping back from royal duties in early 2020, became public. When the palace told them they would stop receiving security, Tyler Perry offered his home and security detail to the couple.

"We didn't have a plan," Meghan said. "We needed a house, and he offered his security as well, so it gave us breathing room to try to figure out what we were going to do," she said of Perry.

Harry and Meghan stayed at Perry's home for three months, then they decided to stay in California and purchased their own home in Montecito.

In their Netflix docuseries "Harry and Meghan," the couple revealed that they had named Perry godfather to their daughter Lilibet.

Harry and Meghan are neighbors with Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom, and they keep in contact to warn each other about nearby paparazzi.

Katy Perry Orlando Bloom pose together
Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Harry, Meghan, and their son Archie became neighbors with actor Orlando Bloom and his fiancée, Katy Perry, in July 2020, when the royals moved into their $14.65 million estate in Montecito, California. Perry and Bloom bought their $14.2 million Montecito mansion in October 2020.

Harry and Meghan's daughter, Lilibet, was born in June 2021.

On a 2021 episode of Dax Shepard's podcast "Armchair Expert," Harry shared that he and Bloom, who has a daughter, Daisy Dove, with Perry, alert each other when there are photographers in the area.

"Just two days ago Orlando Bloom sent me a message because he's down the road and we sort of keep in contact because of the paparazzi," Harry said. "He sent me a photograph, which his security got, of this long-haired guy with a beanie on, with his AirPods in, with his massive camera lying in the back of his 4x4 truck, blacked-out windows, a woman driving ... and he's laid down in the back of this truck taking photographs of them out with their kid, and whoever else is in that area. How is that normal? How is that acceptable?"

Another neighbor in Montecito is Ellen DeGeneres, who has called the couple "amazing" and "so down-to-earth."

Meghan Markle sits down with Ellen Degeneres on "The Ellen Degeneres Show."
Meghan Markle sits down with Ellen Degeneres on "The Ellen Degeneres Show."The Ellen Degeneres Show/Twitter

DeGeneres visited Harry and Meghan while on a trip to the UK in 2019, and she told her audiences on an episode of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" that she had fed and held their son, Archie.

"He weighs 15 pounds, which is, the exchange rate, is 17 dollars here!" she joked.

When the couple faced criticism for flying on private jets in August 2019, DeGeneres defended them on Twitter.

"Portia and I met Prince Harry and Meghan in England to talk about their work on wildlife conservation," she wrote in a tweet. "They were the most down-to-earth, compassionate people. Imagine being attacked for everything you do, when all you're trying to do is make the world better."

Meghan appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in November 2021 in her first major televised interview since the bombshell tell-all with Oprah Winfrey that March.

In February, Harry and Meghan attended DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi's vow renewal, which Kris Jenner officiated.

Read the original article on Insider