Meghan Markle Explains Her Relationship With Estranged Father Thomas and Half Sister Samantha

In previously unaired clips from her tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, the Duchess of Sussex talks about her family.

Meghan Markle is opening up about the struggles within her own family in new unaired clips from her tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, Oprah With Meghan and Harry: A CBS Primetime Special. 

The topic of the 39-year-old Duchess of Sussex's estranged relationship with her father, Thomas Markle, did not come up in the televised interview on Sunday night, but on Monday's CBS This Morning, Oprah shared a new clip in which Meghan talks about the story that Thomas was working with the press leading up to her 2018 royal wedding to Prince Harry. 

"We called my dad, and I asked him, and he said, 'No, absolutely not.' I said, 'You know, the Institution has never intervened for anything for us, but they can try to go in and kill this. But if they do this once, we're not going to be able to use that same leverage to protect our kids one day,'" Meghan recalled. "I said, 'We won't be able to protect our own kids one day,' and I said, 'I just need you to tell me. If you tell me the truth, we can help.' And he wasn't able to do that. And that for me has really resonated, especially now as a mother." 

When talking about how the press "hunted" her father, Meghan had sympathy up to a point. 

"Everyone has accountability. They hunted my mom down," she said of her mother, Doria Ragland. "You never heard her say a word. She's remained in silent dignity for four years watching me go through this."

As for her half sister, Samantha Markle, who has spoken out about Meghan numerous times and even written a tell-all book, Meghan was clear. 

"I think it would be very hard to tell all when you don't know me," she said. "This is a very different situation than my dad, right. When you talk about betrayal, betrayal comes from someone that you have a relationship with. I don't feel comfortable talking about people that I really don't know." 

She added that she grew "as an only child," adding "I wished I had siblings."

"That's why I'm so excited to be pregnant, so Archie has someone," she shared of her future daughter. "The last time I saw [Samantha] must have been at least 18, 19 years ago."

Meghan also noted that Samantha changed her last name back to Markle following the news that Meghan was dating Prince Harry 

"I think that says enough," Meghan shared. 

In Oprah's explosive interview with the couple, Harry also opened up about the status of his relationship with core members of his family. Watch the clip below for more:  

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