Meghan Markle has won a defamation lawsuit filed by her estranged sister Samantha Markle in 2021.
On Thursday, a judge dismissed Samantha’s case, saying Meghan was not guilty because each statement Samantha disputed was an express opinion and therefore did not meet the criteria for defamation.
Part of the lawsuit was about the 2020 book “Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family” by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand. The book was clearly published as an unauthorized biography, but Samantha said Meghan “contributed false information to the book through her agent and press secretary,” according to court documents.
The judge dismissed this claim with prejudice because Meghan did not write the book.
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Meghan Markle has won the defamation lawsuit brought by her estranged sister. (Samir Hussein)
The other instance where Samantha claims Meghan defamed herself occurred during the Duchess’s 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
In that interview, Meghan was asked about Samantha’s all-“Diary of Princess Pushy’s sister.” “It would be very difficult to tell everything when you don’t know me,” he said, adding that he “grew up as an only child.”
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She said she wasn’t close with her half-sister and hadn’t seen her in decades, and “She changed her last name to Markle, and I think she was in her mid-fifties only at the time. I started dating Harry. And so I think that that he has enough.”
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are all smiles, despite frequent criticism. (Mark Cuthbert/UK Press)
Samantha said Meghan’s portrayal in the interview turned her fan base against her, who “saw her as an opportunist trying to cash in on her sister’s success and fame.”
These statements “caused irreparable harm, injury and damage to (Samantha’s) reputation, as well as anxiety and emotional distress,” court documents state. “She’s been getting hate mail, constant negative press, and one of (Meghan’s) fans picked on her.”
Samantha and Meghan Markle share the same father. (Gilbert Carrasquillo/ Ben Birchall – WPA Pool)
He also said he was unable to do his job as a mental health counselor because Meghan had damaged his reputation too much.
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In the judge’s ruling, it was said that Meghan’s statements in the interview could not be classified as defamatory because “Here, a reasonable listener would not think that she was suggesting that (Meghan) has no siblings, that (Samantha) does not actually exist, or that ( Samantha) is not related to…
Samantha Markle has had an issue with Meghan for years. (splash)
“As a reasonable listener would understand, (Meghan) is simply expressing her opinion about her childhood and her relationship with her siblings.”
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Samantha Winfrey’s claims about the interview were dismissed without prejudice, and the judge wrote that she will “be afforded one final opportunity to state a claim on which relief may be granted.”
Emily Trainham is the entertainment editor for Fox News Digital.