Meghan Markle’s half-sister Samantha says the Sussexes made “demonstrably false and malicious statements” about her and the Markle family during their tell-all interview on the Oprah Winfrey show in March 2021. She said will sue the couple for damages.
Samantha, 57, claims Meghan fabricated stories and shamelessly warped facts to try to push a “rags-to-riches”, “fairy tale story” which she says has no basis on reality.
The accusations come after a long list of Markle family squabbling – particularly between Meghan and her father, who has insisted that Meghan “lies” and has “changed” since her marriage to Prince Harry.
As her half-sister, Samantha revealed to TMZ she was deeply hurt that Meghan had told Oprah she was an “only child” despite the two sharing a father, Thomas Markle.
In addition to this, according to Samantha, the Duchess’ claim that the pair had not seen each other in “18 or 19 years’” was also a lie and that Meghan had maliciously implied her half-sister had only begun using the name “Markle” after her marriage to Prince Harry.
While during the televised interview Meghan claimed to have grown up in a very poor environment and was forced to work and pay for her university tuition herself, Samantha says these were more fabricated stories designed to feed into Meghan’s carefully constructed ‘rags to Royalty’ narrative.
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Instead, Samantha explained Meghan’s father, Thomas had paid for her to attend “elite and private schools”, had dished out for the aspiring performer’s acting and dance classes and had also completely covered the cost of tuition and living expenses for Meghan’s course at Northwestern University.
The accusations come after Meghan’s father Thomas Markle, 77, told GB News in 2021 his daughter had been “lying for years” and that he thought it might be “his[Harry’s] influence”.
“Her lies are so obvious, I don’t know why she says them,” said the embattled father.
Speaking about the interview later, Mr Markle went on to say he thought it was “embarrassing” that his daughter had chosen to do a sit-down interview with Oprah despite before claiming to seek a more private life.
“I love my daughter, but I don’t always like what they’re doing.
“She’s changed, she’s not the daughter I knew. My daughter was a much more giving, loving person than she is now”, he concluded.
Samantha revealed in documents obtained by TMZ she feels Meghan’s continual defamatory remarks and allegedly false portrayal of her and the Markle family were fabricated by Meghan to ensure neither her or her father. “could not interfere with or contradict the false narrative and fairytale life story concocted by Meghan”
She says the defamation against her has led to a decline in the sale of her autobiography, prevented her from obtaining work and has led to significant hurt and emotional stress.
Meanwhile, Meghan’s attorney Michael Kump told TMZ: “This baseless and absurd lawsuit is just a continuation of a pattern of disturbing behavior. We will give it the minimum attention necessary, which is all it deserves.”