Meghan Markle’s estranged half-sister Samantha Grant (although she has primarily gone by Samantha Markle since Prince Harry and Meghan started publicly dating) is reportedly suing her for defamation, claiming that she made “false and malicious statements” about her “rags to royalty” life in her tell-all Oprah interview that aired one year ago. In court documents obtained by TMZ, the 57-year-old – who shares father Thomas Markle with the 40-year-old Duchess of Sussex – claimed that the explosive sit-down interview actually “hurt” the sales of her tell-all autobiography, The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister — Part 1, which was published earlier last year. As per the lawsuit, Grant alleged that the interview “hurt sales of her autobiography, prevented her from getting jobs and caused emotional and mental distress.”
Grant accused her half-sister of launching a “premeditated campaign to destroy” her and her father’s reputations, claiming she tried to ruin their credibility so “they could not interfere with or contradict the false narrative and fairy tale life story concocted by the defendant.”
She then questioned her sister’s “rags to royalty” narrative, claiming that she made it seem like she grew up in “virtual poverty,” but in actuality, that couldn’t have been further from the truth, as she said that their father sent her to “elite and expensive private schools,” and also paid for “dance and acting classes.” Grant said that this therefore didn’t match up with what Meghan previously said about her education, as she also claimed that she had to work throughout her college years in order to pay for her Northwestern University education herself.
The lawsuit also mentions Meghan’s comment to Oprah about not seeing her sister in “at least 18, 19 years,” as well as how the pair have actually only met a “handful of times,” both of which, Samantha says, are untrue. “This is false. Samantha spent time with defendant on a regular basis throughout her childhood and even lived in the same apartment house with defendant for a period of time,” the lawsuit said.
“Samantha picked up Meghan from school; took Meghan for ice cream and to the mall regularly, and spent many family holidays with the defendant. Meghan’s father was Meghan’s primary caregiver and Meghan and Samantha saw each other regularly.”
The Duchess has responded to her half-sister’s lawsuit through her legal team. “This baseless and absurd lawsuit is just a continuation of a pattern of disturbing behavior,” Michael Kump, Meghan’s lawyer, said in a statement to TMZ. “We will give it the minimum attention necessary, which is all it deserves,” he continued. As things currently stand, Samantha is seeking $75,000 from Meghan, and has demanded a trial by jury.
