Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has asked for a lawsuit brought against her by her half-sister to be dismissed. Photo / Getty Images
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has asked for a lawsuit brought against her by her half-sister to be dismissed. Photo / Getty Images
Meghan Markle has asked for a lawsuit brought against her by her half-sister to be dismissed.
The royal is being sued for defamation by Samantha Markle, who has claimed the former Suits actress made "false and malicious statements" about her in her bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey last year, and she has branded the lawsuit "meritless".
The duchess - who shares children Archie, three, and Lilibet, 12 months, with husband Prince Harry - originally filed to have the case dismissed on June 17 but the judge denied the duchess' request four days later because her half-sister had filed an amended complaint.
As a result, on June 27 the former Suits actress filed a new motion for dismissal, arguing against the claims made in the author's "meritless defamation case" and insisting her half-sister had deleted numerous specific factual allegations and exhibits from her original complaint, claiming that the facts would "completely undermine" her estranged half-sibling's case.
Documents obtained by Us Weekly magazine added: "Most obviously, her original complaint attached a 2018 email from Meghan to the then-communications secretary of Kensington Palace, [New Zealander] Jason Knauf, that the plaintiff alleged was the basis for the allegedly defamatory statements in Finding Freedom.
"However, the email on its face disproved the plaintiff's claim that Meghan was somehow responsible for the authors' allegedly defamatory statements in Finding Freedom.
"Indeed, in her desperation to save her case, the plaintiff quite literally fabricated one of the statements, as evidenced by the missing interview transcript."
Samantha Markle has claimed her sister made "false and malicious statements" during her explosive Oprah interview. Photo / Channel 7
The royal's half-sister had previously claimed the duchess was not honest about her past relationships with her family when she told Winfrey she had never been close to her half-sister or half-brother Thomas Markle Jr when she was growing up.
The duchess said at the time: "I grew up as an only child, which everyone who grew up around me knows, and I wished I had siblings. I would have loved to have had siblings.
"[She] changed her last name back to Markle in her early 50s ... only when I started dating Harry. So, I think that says enough."
However, her half-sister insisted the former Suits actress had lied so she and her father, Thomas Markle "could not interfere with or contradict the false narrative and fairytale life story [she] concocted".
But the duchess doesn't feel the nature of their familial relationships should form the basis of a lawsuit.
Her documents stated: "We do not empanel juries to rule on whether two people are 'close' or whether one genuinely feels that they 'grew up as an only child'.
"Courts are not equipped to adjudicate the legitimacy of a person's feelings about their childhood and relationships. Nor should they be. … This dispute has no place in this court or any other."
The duchess also requested to be awarded her attorney's fees.
