The family drama between the Duchess of Sussex and her half-sister is headed to court.
Family drama can get really messy, even for a Duchess. Meghan Markle's half-sister Samantha Markle has filed a defamation lawsuit against the former Suits actress.
According to court documents, obtained by ET, which were filed on Friday, Samantha is suing Meghan for "defamation based on demonstrably false and malicious statements made by her half-sister to a worldwide audience."
Samantha's allegations in her lawsuit related to comments Meghan made during her and Prince Harry's 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Samantha further alleges that Meghan "published and disseminated false and malicious statements" about her in the 2020 book, Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of A Modern Royal Family.
The lawsuit alleges that Meghan's comments about her were "lies designed to destroy [Samantha's] reputation and which have subjected [her] to humiliation, shame and hatred on a worldwide scale."
Samantha further claims that Meghan "orchestrated the campaign to defame and destroy her sister's and her Father's reputation and credibility in order to preserve and promote the false 'rags-to-royalty' narrative Defendant had fabricated about her life to the Royal Family and the worldwide media."
She goes on to deny claims she said Markle has made about not having spent much time with Samantha while growing up, and comments she made claiming Samantha was a "high-school dropout." She also denies a claim she said Meghan made that Samantha changed her last name to Markle after news first broke in 2018 that Meghan and Prince Harry were dating.
Samantha is seeking damages to the tune of $75,000 and is requesting a trial by jury.
ET has reached out to Meghan and Harry for comment on the lawsuit.
The bad blood between Samantha and Meghan has been ongoing in the public eye for over five years. In 2018, in an interview with ITV's Good Morning Britain, Samantha insisted she was not "cashing in" on Meghan's fame, despite being a frequent and outspoken critic.
"I worked in media most of my life and in broadcasting, so because my sister is suddenly royal isn't grounds for me to stop doing all of that," Samantha said. "Let's face it -- we all have to survive. Money makes the world go round, so if you want to call that cashing in, that's fine, but I think no one in media would refuse a paycheck for talking about the royal and, as a family, we're not subject to royal protocol. Why would I stop living because we have a family issue going on?"
"No one has a copyright on our life experiences and so, I think the public forgets that within the family, we're each individuals with our own life experiences," she continued. "With all due respect, it's not just Meghan. We're entitled to share that. We're entitled to be open about it and if we can shed some light on some issues for the public, then great and we can enjoy the process. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. It's not disparaging. It's not harmful."
For more on the family drama, see the video below.
RELATED CONTENT:
