You Won't Believe Which A-List Actress Went to School with Meghan Markle

Meghan Markle has always led something of a charmed life — but according to the latest Express report, her childhood was even more star-studded than we realized. The 2018 book Meghan: A Hollywood Princess reveals that Meghan Markle and Scarlett Johansson went to the same school, and while they weren’t the same year (Meghan is three years older than Johansson), the two did have some interactions. Andrew Morton, royal biographer and author of the aforementioned book, recalls the two being in a school play together, marveling at how far both have come.

Both these A-list celebrities attended the Little Red School House, also known as Hollywood Schoolhouse: a private Los Angeles school offering early childhood programs and grades K-6. The list of celebrities who have sent their children here includes Johnny Depp, Grey’s Anatomy‘s Jason George and Kevin Smith, with additional notable donors like Al Pacino. While at the Schoolhouse, Meghan was in a production of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, when — on the day of the show — the lead actor became sick.

While Meghan furiously studied the lead’s lines, the production busied itself with finding Meghan’s replacement. Here, Morton says, is where Johansson got involved. “Ironically, no one gave a thought to asking a little girl with an unkempt mane of blonde hair, thick glasses and an awkward, clumsy manner who was lurking in the chorus to take the part,” he writes. “Her name was Scarlett Johansson, now one of the world’s highest paid actresses.”

Scarlett Johansson on set of the Black Widow movie pic.twitter.com/SIXLloROuw

— best of scarlett (@badpostscar) May 29, 2019

Express notes that Johansson has had other run-ins with the royal family: according to a 2018 biography of Prince Harry, he once ran into the Avengers star at a nightclub in London; and in 2008, Johansson met Prince Charles and wife Camilla at the premiere for The Other Boleyn Girl. The actress also gave an impassioned defense of celebrities’ right to privacy from paparazzi back in April, citing Princess Diana’s tragic death as an example of how the paparazzi’s extreme methods can have dangerous results.

While Meghan doesn’t appear to have maintained a friendship with Johansson, they’ve definitely interacted over the course of their acting careers. Now, we just need someone to track down a home video of that Grinch Who Stole Christmas production — now that Meghan’s a royal, it may have been the final Markle-Johansson collab we’ll ever get.