Why Meghan Markle’s 2018 Letter to Her Father Sparked a Lawsuit
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The word that comes to mind to describe Meghan Markle’s relationship with her father, Thomas Markle, is toxic. Since Meghan began dating Prince Harry, her dynamic with her dad has continually worsened due to his interaction with the British media. In February 2019, Thomas sent the Daily Mail an edited letter that Meghan wrote him after her wedding in 2018. The excerpts of the letter were published without her consent or knowledge, which understandably led to her and Harry suing the publication.
Read the letter that was published below:
“Your actions have broken my heart into a million pieces not simply because you have manufactured such unnecessary and unwarranted pain, but by making the choice to not tell the truth as you are puppeteered in this. Something I will never understand.
“So the week of the wedding to hear about you having a heart attack through a tabloid was horrifying. I called and texted…I begged you to accept help—we sent someone to your home…and instead of speaking to me to accept this or any help, you stopped answering your phone and chose to only speak to tabloids.
“You haven’t reached out to me since the week of our wedding, and while you claim you have no way of contacting me, my phone number has remained the same. If you love me, as you tell the press you do, please stop.
“Please allow us to live our lives in peace. Please stop lying, please stop creating so much pain, please stop exploiting my relationship with my husband. I realize you are so far down this rabbit hole that you feel (or may feel) there’s no way out, but if you take a moment to pause, I think you’ll see that being able to live with a clear conscience is more valuable than any payment in the world.”
Harry later released a statement announcing that he and Meghan would take legal action against Associated Newspapers (publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday) over the misuse of private information, infringement of copyright, and breach of the Data Protection Act 2018. “As a couple, we believe in media freedom and objective, truthful reporting,” the statement read. “Unfortunately, my wife has become one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences.”
The statement continued, “For these select media, this is a game, and one that we have been unwilling to play from the start. I have been a silent witness to her private suffering for too long. To stand back and do nothing would be contrary to everything we believe in.”
The statement also referenced the late Princess Diana and the similar treatment she received from the press. “Though this action may not be the safe one, it is the right one,” he continued. “Because my deepest fear is history repeating itself. I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditized to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.”
Last month, the courts ruled in Meghan and Harry’s favor, finding that Associated Newspapers did breach her privacy and copyright when it published the letter she wrote to her father. And UK’s high court has ruled that the Mail on Sunday will also now have to publish a front-page statement acknowledging the royal’s lawsuit victory.
One part of Meghan’s letter does ring true even years later: “The only thing that helps me sleep at night is the faith and knowing that a lie can’t live forever.”
This is why we’re so excited for Meghan and Harry to finally be able to speak their truth during their sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey.
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