The defamation lawsuit against Meghan Markle has received new life. Markle is now being sued for $75,000 by her half-sister over allegations Markle made during her interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The court documents allege that Markle’s 2021 interview with Winfrey defamed her half-sister. As a result of Markle claiming that she and Samantha Markle did not have a relationship growing up, the credibility that Samantha had in writing The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister Part 1, was irrevocably damaged.
When Markle claimed to have “grown up as an only child,” the amended lawsuit states that it dissuaded potential readers from purchasing Samantha’s book. Because of this, Samantha claims, per the court documents that her character was defamed and earnings were lost. As such, she is seeking $75,000 in damages.
The case is scheduled to be heard on November 4, 2024, with an anticipated trial timeline of five days.
Samantha Markle’s Previous Defamation Lawsuit Against Meghan Markle Was Thrown Out
Samantha previously filed a lawsuit against Markle claiming that she was defamed when the Duchess stated that she felt like an “only child” growing up. In that suit, Samantha was also asking for $75,000 in damages. The claim was made during an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021.
However, in March 2023, that case was thrown out. The judge stated that Markle was stating an “opinion.” As such, Markle’s claims could not be proven “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 explained. “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.”
The judge further found that any damages that Samantha was seeking as a result of an interview Markle gave for the unauthorized biography, Finding Freedom could not be sought as Markle did not publish the “contents of the book.”
Experts Believe The Defamation Lawsuit Filed Against Meghan Markle Is Baseless
When the original lawsuit was filed against Markle and Markle came out victorious when the defamation suit was thrown out, Samantha was warned that any new filings would fail. Despite the claims coming from an expert, Samantha dismissed the warning and went forward with the amended filing anyway.
Christopher Bouzy, an expert from the data analysis firm, Bot Sentinel, was interviewed for Harry & Meghan. At that time, he stated in his interview that the claims against Markle were “unfounded and not grounded in factual evidence.” Any claims that resemble them were baseless.
As a result of this claim, Samantha stated that Markle again defamed her via Bouzy believing that Bouzy was employed by Markle.
“We maintain that the claims in Samantha Markle’s complaint are unfounded and not grounded in factual evidence,” Bouzy explained.
There’s reason to believe that Harry and Meghan are only putting on a united front for the sake of their careers.
He went on to say, “To be clear, I would like to categorically state that Bot Sentinel does not have any financial relationship with Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Neither the couple themselves nor any individual or entity affiliated with them has ever retained our services or engaged in any form of professional collaboration.”
Whether the lawsuit will make it to trial remains to be seen. But, according to reports, if the facts are not categorically different as stated in the original lawsuit, it is unclear how Samantha will come out victorious a second time around.
