'White Girls Only' Club: How Meghan Fought Racism as a Young Girl in L.A.

As a biracial girl growing up in Los Angeles, Meghan Markle encountered racism from a young age

Meghan Markle has always stood up for what’s right.

A new book, Meghan: A Hollywood Princess, penned by Andrew Morton— the same author who wrote the famed Princess Diana biography Diana: Her True Story — explores Meghan’s life before Harry, including her childhood in Los Angeles.

Morton writes that on one occasion Meghan, who has previously spoken of the racism she encountered growing up biracial in L.A., was asked by a clique if she wanted to join a club for “white girls only.”

Source: Meghan Markle/Instagram

“It was clear that Meghan had inherited her mother’s strong sense of right and wrong and was prepared to stand up for herself and for others,” Morton writes in an excerpt of Meghan: A Hollywood Princess, available in this week’s issue of PEOPLE. “On one occasion the so-called ‘mean girls’ announced they were starting a ‘White Girls Only’ club and wanted Meghan to join. ‘Are you kidding me?’ said Meghan to the gaggle of her fellow pupils, dismissing them in a sentence. They went very quiet after that.”

RELATED VIDEO: Team Super Royal Takes Off! Will, Kate, Harry and Meghan Make Their First Appearance Together

“To describe something as being black and white means it is clearly defined,” Meghan previously wrote in Elle UK of her biracial identity. (Her mom is Black and her dad is white.) “Yet when your ethnicity is Black and white, the dichotomy is not that clear. In fact, it creates a grey area. Being biracial paints a blurred line that is equal parts staggering and illuminating.”

Meghan: A Hollywood Princess by Andrew Mortonis available on April 17.