Meghan Markle has won the defamation lawsuit brought forward by her half-sister, Samantha Markle.
Samantha Markle, 58, sued the Duchess of Sussex in federal court in Florida for allegedly making “demonstrably false and malicious statements” about her to a world audience during her and Prince Harry’s bombshell March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Samantha filed the $75,000 lawsuit after Meghan told Oprah that she grew up as an only child.
The comments subjected Samantha to “humiliation and hatred,” she claimed.
But on Thursday, a Florida judge didn’t see it that way and dismissed the lawsuit, saying Meghan’s remarks were opinions and “not capable of being proved false.”
“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 her 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, who shares a dad with the exiled royal, claimed 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 worldwide media.”
Samantha’s lawyer Peter Ticktin told the court that Meghan got caught in a lie about her upbringing and decided to slam her half-sister and estranged father to cover it up, according to the Daily Mail.
“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.”
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He said the “false narrative” put out by Meghan harmed his client.
Samantha also wanted Meghan to take back allegations she made against the royal family by claiming “Queen Elizabeth was not a racist” and “King Charles is not a racist.”
Meghan’s lawyer, Michael Kump, however, said Samantha had no grounds to sue for defamation.
He said the claims made by Samantha and her lawyer were “quite frankly offensive to my client” and demanded the case be dismissed.
“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.”
He added that the duchess and former “Suits” star has a right to voice opinions “and even criticize” under the First Amendment.
The estranged half-sisters had been at odds for years before the famous 2021 Oprah interview.
Meghan has repeatedly accused Samantha and their father Thomas of selling stories to the British tabloids.
For her part, Samantha has continued to fire shots at the duchess and brother-in-law Prince Harry as the couple continues putting out documentaries and memories.
Last month, she accused the Duke of Sussex of being “emotionally underdeveloped.”
“I don’t think he can think like an adult because I don’t think emotionally he is one,” she added.
