Meghan Markle Sits Down with Ellen DeGeneres in Surprise Interview!

Surprise! Meghan Markle is making her debut on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

The Duchess of Sussex will appear on the talk show Thursday, and a sneak peek of her chat with DeGeneres released Wednesday shows Meghan reminiscing about going on auditions on the same Warner Bros. lot when she worked as an actress before meeting Prince Harry.

"The security guards would always say, 'Break a leg! We hope you get it!' So the drive in today was very different," Meghan, 40, told the host, who is also her neighbor in Montecito.

When DeGeneres asked Meghan if the security guards recognized her, the mom of two replied, "I think they probably said it to everybody. That's how nice they were."

Meghan also shared that she used to drive an old Ford Explorer Sport with "a life of its own," as she described it.

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Meghan said the key on the drivers' side door wouldn't work, so she had a unique way of getting in.

"I would park in the back of the parking lot and open the trunk, then climb in and pull it shut behind me and crawl over all my seats to get out," she said with a laugh. "That's how I would come to and fro."

Should anyone come near her, Meghan said she would "play it off" by pretending to look for things in her trunk.

Meghan, who wore a cream top with voluminous sleeves and cutouts paired with black pants and matching pumps, also had her trusted glam team with her. Longtime friend and makeup artist Daniel Martin helped get her camera-ready alongside hairstylist Jason Low.

"We were backstage the entire time," Martin tells PEOPLE. "It's really fun and Ellen really pulled out Meghan's goofy, funny side, which everyone will be able to finally see."

Meghan's sitdown with DeGeneres marks her first daytime talk show appearance since she married Prince Harry and joined the royal family. Last March, Meghan and Harry sat down with Oprah Winfrey for a candid chat about their decision to step back from their roles as working royals and their new life in California.

Meghan and the talk show host's friendship began years ago with a chance encounter at a dog shelter, where the former actress was debating whether to adopt her first pet, Bogart.

"Now, I don't know her, but Ellen goes 'Is that your dog?' And I said, 'No,' and she's like, 'You have to take that dog.' And I said, 'Well, I'm deciding.' And she's like, 'Rescue the dog!' " Meghan recalled in Best Health. "It's sort of like if Oprah tells you to do something. I'm sitting there holding him and she's like 'Have you thought of a name for him yet?' And I said, 'Well, I think I'd name him Bogart,' and she's like 'You're taking the dog home.'

Meghan continued, "And she walks outside to get into her car but instead of getting in she turns around and comes and taps on the window glass and she yells 'Take the dog!' And so I brought him home. Because Ellen told me to."

DeGeneres also had a surprise visit with Prince Harry and Meghan during a summer trip to the U.K. in 2019, revealing that she cradled and fed baby Archie.

Joked DeGeneres of the then-4-month-old, "He weighs 15 lbs., which is, the exchange rate, is 17 dollars here!"

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The TV star also defended the couple after they were criticized for taking private jets for their 2019 vacations around Europe. DeGeneres tweeted, "Imagine being attacked for everything you do, when all you're trying to do is make the world better."

DeGeneres said of Meghan and Harry, "They are amazing. They are the cutest couple and so down-to-earth."

"I see them get attacked and it's not fair," she continued. "They are just two of the most down-to-earth compassionate people, they're doing so much good for the world."