Meghan Markle Faces Defamation Charges After Sister Samantha Files Lawsuit

Meghan Markle is facing a defamation lawsuit brought against her by her half-sister Samantha Markle.

The 42-year-old Duchess of Sussex is being sued for "defamation based on demonstrably false and malicious statements" she allegedly made against her estranged sibling that were broadcasted to a "worldwide audience," according to court documents obtained by Entertainment Tonight, filed Friday.

The lawsuit said that Samantha's allegations were related to comments made by Meghan during her and Prince Harry's 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, in which the duchess allegedly lied about her relationship with their father, Thomas Markle.

Samantha also claimed that her half-sister "published and disseminated false and malicious statements" about her in "Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of A Modern Royal Family" — a New York Times bestselling biography written by Carolyn Durand and Omid Scobie that was published in 2020.

The lawsuit further claimed that Meghan's comments were "lies" allegedly meant to "destroy" Samantha's reputation and "have subjected [her] to humiliation, shame and hatred on a worldwide scale," the outlet noted.

Samantha, 57, alleged that the "Suits" alum "orchestrated the campaign" to destroy both her half-sister's and her father Thomas' reputations "in order to preserve and promote the false 'rags-to-royalty' narrative" Meghan allegedly made up about her life to the British royal family and the media.

In her lawsuit, the author denied claims she said Meghan made that the duchess rarely spent time with Samantha growing up and that Samantha was a "high-school dropout."

She also denied an accusation she said Meghan made that Samantha only changed her last name to Markle after news broke that the former actress was dating her now-husband Prince Harry back in 2016.

In the complaint, Samantha alleged that Meghan's comments made her look like "an opportunist of the worst kind."

Samantha also alleged that the duchess' remarks caused her emotional and mental distress, prevented her from being hired for jobs and negatively affected the sales of her autobiography, "The Diary of Princess Pushy's Sister," TMZ reported, citing court documents.

Samantha is seeking $75,000 in damages.

Samantha filed the lawsuit in March last year, The Daily Beast reported.

In September 2022, Meghan filed papers responding to her half-sister's defamation lawsuit, in which the duchess said she wanted the case tossed and that the "harm" caused by "unnecessary discovery" would be "very real."

However, a Florida court dismissed those arguments Tuesday, saying that Meghan had failed to show that there were sufficiently "unusual circumstances" to "justify the requested stay."

"Although a preliminary peek at the Motion to Dismiss suggests that some of the claims against [Meghan] may be ripe for dismissal, the review does not reveal, at this time, a clear indication that the Court will dismiss the action in its entirety," the judge said, according to the outlet.

After failing to win a pause on the discovery process, Meghan and Prince Harry are due to be deposed in the case.

According to Us Weekly, the estranged sisters are scheduled for a jury trial in October 2023.