Meghan Markle’s father, Thomas, used to represent a vital figure in the life of the Duchess of Sussex, but their relationship became strained in recent years.

In the past, the former actress revealed that her love for the film, and especially the theater, was born because of her dad who used to take her on the set of the many movies and series he worked on as a lighting director and director of photography.

Every day after school for 10 years, I was on the set of Married, with Children, which is a really funny and perverse place for a little girl in a Catholic school uniform to grow up,” she told Esquire.

“There were a lot of times my dad would say, ‘Meg, why don’t you go and help with the craft services room over there? This is just a little off-color for your 11-year-old eyes,’” she said of the days when she and her dad were getting along just perfectly.

Although she was familiar with how the industry worked, Meghan reportedly never wanted her story to be a cliché and she refused to be known as the L.A. girl who dreamed of becoming an actress. So, she attended the Northwestern University where she studied communication. Later on, she moved to Illinois to double-major in both theater and international relations at the prestigious Evanston school.