Like a cat, or perhaps a Nintendo video game character, Meghan Markle has had many lives.
Before she was the Duchess of Sussex, Markle was a philanthropist and a prolific lifestyle columnist, and before that, she was Rachel Zane on the American legal drama “Suits.” True fans know, though, that even before she played a paralegal, Markle was doing occasional contract modelling gigs, and even appeared as a “briefcase girl” on the U.S. game show “Deal or No Deal” way back in the day.
And now, if your interest or your bank account can manage it, you can actually buy the briefcase that Markle carried on the show in question. But it’s going to cost you — somewhere between $5,000 and $8,000, to be exact.
The iconic #24 briefcase that the duchess held on the NBC game show from 2006 to 2007 has suddenly materialized on Hollywood: A Collector’s Ransom, an internet auction catalogue where you can find everything from Robert Riskin’s Academy Award for “It Happened One Night” to the leather jacket Jeff Goldblum wore in “Jurassic Park.”
The catalogue is run by Profiles in History, which bills itself as “the world’s largest auctioneer of original Hollywood memorabilia.” Markle’s briefcase holds the #783 spot on the list, wedged right between a “Metropolis” robot statue that appeared as a prop on “The Big Bang Theory” and a decorative constellation that appeared as a prop on “The Big Bang Theory.”
It’s in “fine condition.” It’s aluminum and chrome. It’s lined with velvet. It’s a historical artifact.
It’s also been in the same room as President Donald Trump, who, if you recall, appeared on the show during its first season, when Markle was there holding the very same briefcase that is now being auctioned off. (Markle’s unofficial biography reports that she avoided him, and even “gave him a wide berth.”)
This tracks. Just last year, the show’s host, Howie Mandel, joked that Markle was “slightly duchessy” during her short stint on the show.
“Not everybody will have the opportunity to meet royalty, but these are all accomplished people that have something substantial — they’re not just standing there holding a case,” Mandel said at a summer press tour panel for the Television Critics Association, according to People. “So when somebody like [Prince] Harry meets somebody who just happened to be on our show, there’s a lot to offer!”
For what it’s worth, Markle has commented on her days on the game show, too, a job she took in order to “make ends meet.”
“I would end up standing up there forever in these terribly uncomfortable and inexpensive five-inch heels just waiting for someone to pick my number so I could go and sit down,” she said in an interview with Esquire in 2013.
She never got to hold a winning case, but, by all accounts and standards, it seems she’s winning now. Everything works out in the end.