Before Meghan Markle became the Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry's wife, a former ESPN host had his sights set on her. Ryen Russillo, 49, once tried to woo Meghan after they met at a celebrity flag football game during Super Bowl weekend in 2014, according to UsWeekly. Speaking on The Bill Simmons podcast, Russillo recalled: "We played in a celebrity flag football game together and it was all of the [Sports Illustrated] swimsuit models.
So, nobody was really paying any attention to Markle." The star-studded match included former NFL stars, The Vampire Diaries' Nina Dobrev, Black Panther's Michael B Jordan, and Sports Illustrated models like Chrissy Teigen, Nina Agdal and Hannah Davis. "I was like, 'That's my lane.
She's probably doubting herself a little bit right now,'" Russillo said. "She's never been more obtainable." This was just before the premiere of Suits season 4 and two years before Meghan began dating Prince Harry .
After the game, Russillo decided to take a chance and sent Meghan a cheeky direct message. Russillo described the approach as a very soft sell, saying: "It was, 'Hey, I know the new season of Suits is coming out if you ever want to come on the show to promote it.' It was really professional.
" Despite this, he confessed to having an ulterior motive, stating: "It was like a gauging of interest," and "Like, if I got an emoji back, who knows? " Meghan did respond to his message, but not in the way he had hoped. "It was ice cold," Russillo remembered. "It .
