Meghan Markle’s half-sister is appealing a court ruling and has restated her accusation that the Duchess of Sussex defamed her. Samantha Markle insists her sister portrayed her as a “lying, racist, fame-seeker” and, in doing so, affected and reduced her employment opportunities. Court documents state that Meghan Markle has “made it so that Samantha cannot work, or even enjoy the most mundane activities like going to the grocery store without harassment.”
The case centers around the Duchess’s comments during her now-infamous 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey and in a Harry and Meghan documentary on Netflix. In a Florida court in March, however, Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell dismissed the case, saying Samantha Markle had failed to present evidence of defamation. Her lawyers now intend to argue that the Judge did not account for “implied defamation” through the omission of facts.
Samantha seeks $75,000 for her sister’s comments, including her statements that she grew up an only child and that her half-sister changed her name back to Markle after she began dating Prince Harry. Judge Honeywell concluded that the remarks did not meet the threshold of defamation, adding that it was provably true that Samantha Markle had changed her name to Markle after her sister’s famous romance began.
Meghan and Samantha Markle have different mothers but the same father, Thomas Markle, from whom the Duchess is estranged. Media reports in June indicated that Mr. Markle wished to reconcile with his daughter and to meet his grandchildren for the first time. Harry and Meghan have two children – 5-year-old Prince Archie and 3-year-old Princess Lilibet. “They have two grandpas who want to see them, one of whom is the King of England,” Markle said, before adding that he never expected to have anything in common with the British Monarch.
In a press interview, Markle also lashed out at Prince Harry, saying he had made no effort to meet his father-in-law despite having the resources to travel anywhere.
Meghan, however, has stated that she felt betrayed by her father, who reportedly collaborated with the media in the run-up to her 2018 wedding in the UK.
