Samantha Markle, 58, filed a lawsuit against her half sister the Duchess of Sussex in federal court in Florida for allegedly making “demonstrably false and malicious statements” about her to a global audience during her and Prince Harry’s controversial interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021.
Meghan revealed to Oprah that she was raised as the sole child, prompting Samantha to bring the $75,000 lawsuit.
Samantha said that she had experienced “humiliation and hatred” as a result of the remarks.
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However, a Florida court on Thursday disagreed and dismissed the claim, stating that Meghan’s comments were opinions and “not capable of being proved incorrect.”
“As a reasonable listener would understand it, Defendant merely expresses an opinion about her childhood and her relationship with her half-siblings,” US District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell wrote in the order.
“Thus, the Court finds that Defendant’s statement is not objectively verifiable or subject to empirical proof. Plaintiff cannot plausibly disprove Defendant’s opinion of her own childhood.”
Samantha asserted 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 [Meghan] had fabricated about her life to the Royal Family and the worldwise media.”
Samantha’s attorney Peter Ticktin reportedly told the court that Meghan got caught lying about her upbringing and chose to blame her half-sister and father to hide it.
“Why else is she putting her sister down? Why else is she putting her father down? Why else is she denying her family who has done nothing but good to her all her life?” Ticktin said. “She never had a problem with them at all.” He claimed that Meghan’s “false narrative” hurt his client.
Samantha wished for Meghan to retract her claims that Queen Elizabeth and King Charles were racists.
Samantha has no justification to file a slander lawsuit, according to Michael Kump, Meghan’s attorney. He urged that the matter be dropped, claiming that Samantha’s and her attorney’s allegations were “quite frankly offensive to my client.”
“Not every perceived slight ought to be litigated and that’s true here,” he said last month. “Plaintiff is taking issue with Meghan’s own impressions of her own childhood growing up but that’s not a proper subject matter for a court of law.”
According to the First Amendment, the duchess and former “Suits” star is entitled to express her thoughts “and even criticize.” Before the infamous 2021 Oprah interview, the distant Markle sisters had been at odds for many years.
Samantha and her and Meghan’s father, Thomas Markle, have been charged by Meghan with selling tales to British tabloids on numerous occasions. While the duchess and her husband Prince Harry continue to release movies and recollections, Samantha has continued to criticize the couple.
She stated last month that the Duke of Sussex was “emotionally underdeveloped.”
“I don’t think he can think like an adult because I don’t think emotionally he is one,” she remarked.