She’s living her dream, the one from years back! Deal or No Deal star Howie Mandel got candid about his friend and former costar, Duchess Meghan (née Markle), and her former acting life — and he even joked about how the 38-year-old royal “planned” her royal life all along.

“No, I don’t think she’ll ever [return to acting],” the TV host, 63, told Us Weekly about Meg at the America’s Got Talent season 14 finale taping on Wednesday, September 18. “Well, she’ll be seen on television, because she’s a duchess.” Royals do get good press, we’ll give him that.

Meghan Markle
Usa Network/Netflix/Kobal/Shutterstock

“But that was her plan,” he continued. “I used to say to her, ‘Meghan, open the case.’ And she used to say, ‘Not now, I’m doing some work on becoming a duchess.’ It was the master plan, so I don’t think she’ll come back for us.”

In case you missed it, the Duchess of Sussex worked as a briefcase girl on the hit basic cable game show with Howie from 2006 to 2007 … so you might want to start scouring YouTube for one of her many episodes. Meghan is perhaps best known for her role on Suits, the USA drama she starred in from 2011 until she retired from acting in 2018.

The brunette beauty put the scripts aside to marry Prince Harry in May 2018, after dating since 2016. But believe it or not, folks from her old acting life don’t feel the duchess has changed all that much since becoming part of the royal family. In fact, Suits producer Aaron Korsh told Life & Style exclusively that Meg isn’t one to morph into an unknown in the face of this level of success.

“Meghan is who she is. She’s a grown woman. She’s not in her 20s. I think she’s a fully formed woman,” the 52-year-old explained at the TCA Winter Press Tour. “I’m sure that being in that position I’m sure would have some long-term changes but she’s the same. I’m going to guess that she’s pretty much the same person she always was and adapting very nicely to the challenges … If you can handle yourself in Hollywood, you can handle yourself.”