Robin Thicke knew Meghan Markle long before she was the Duchess of Sussex.
“When I got married in 2005, Meghan Markle wrote my wedding invitations in calligraphy,” Thicke, 46, tells Us Weekly’s “25 Things You Don’t Know About Me” feature.
Prior to becoming an actress, Markle, now 42, made ends meet by doing calligraphy. The Masked Singer judge and ex-wife Paula Patton (who finalized their divorce in 2015) hired 23-year-old Markle for her handwriting skills. It was one of her more memorable jobs.
“I went to an all-girls Catholic school for six years during the time when kids actually had handwriting class,” the Suits alum told Esquire in 2013. “I’ve always had a propensity for getting the cursive down pretty well. What it evolved into was my pseudo-waitressing job when I was auditioning. I didn’t wait tables. I did calligraphy for the invitations, for, like, Robin Thicke and Paula Patton’s wedding.”
Catch Thicke at the judges table when The Masked Singer airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox and scroll down to learn 25 things fans might not know about him:
1. The night I was born, my parents were headed to an L.A. Kings hockey game when my mom [Gloria Loring] realized I was arriving two weeks early. My father [Alan Thicke] joked, “You better be 100 percent sure because we have VIP parking tonight.”
2. I was the first white artist to top the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart since George Michael did back in 1988.
3. I come from six generations of musicians on my mother’s side. We had traveling family bands like The Sound of Music.
4. My mother had a No. 1 song, “Friends and Lovers,” and sang the Facts of Life theme song.
5. My father wrote and sang the Diff’rent Strokes theme song.
6. When I was 11, Wayne Gretzky babysat me for two weeks while my father was out of town. I answered the phone the morning he was famously traded to the L.A. Kings.
7. I taught myself to play piano at 11. I started composing songs at 12.
8. I recorded my first demo at 13 and began writing and recording songs at 14.
9. I published my first record as a songwriter on Brandy’s debut album. She was 14, I was 16.
10. That same year, Brian McKnight signed me to a recording contract with Interscope Records and Jimmy Iovine.
11. I wrote and produced songs on more than two dozen gold and platinum albums, including Michael Jackson, Marc Anthony and Pink.
12. I love having dinner with my family while the sun sets over Malibu.
13. As a teen, I had small roles in The Wonder Years, Growing Pains, The New Lassie and Just the Ten of Us.
14. At 22, I met my mentor and executive producer, Andre Harrell. He taught me everything I know about being an artist.
15. My Cadillac Escalade is something I can’t live without. It’s my fly soccer dad car.
16. My debut single, “When I Get You Alone,” featured the disco music of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.
17. One of my favorite records I ever wrote and produced for another artist was “Can U Handle It?” for Usher.
18. I had my first No. 1 single and album as a songwriter, producer and artist in 2007. The song was “Lost Without You,” and the album was The Evolution of Robin Thicke.
19. Lil Wayne has been my most common collaborator.
20. I have four beautiful children: Julian Fuego, Mia Love, Lola Alain and Luca Patrick.
21. When I got married in 2005, Meghan Markle wrote my wedding invitations in calligraphy.
22. I’ve had the honor of touring with Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson.
23. One of my favorite jobs I’ve ever had was starring with Kevin Hart on BET’s Real Husbands of Hollywood.
24. Our house burned down in the Malibu fires in 2018 and we moved back in November 2022.
25. I love playing tennis with my best friend and fiancée, April Love Geary.
