A Florida federal judge on Tuesday tossed Samantha Markle’s defamation lawsuit against her half-sister, Meghan Markle.
Samantha had alleged the 42-year-old Duchess of Sussex defamed her during a 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey. She took further issue with comments made in Netflix’s 2022 documentary about the royal couple titled, “Harry & Meghan.”
Samantha claimed the six-part series contained 14 defamatory statements against her, and ultimately painted her as “an opportunist trying to cash in on her sister’s success and fame, despite having no relationship with her,” according to court documents.
In a 58-page decision, Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida concluded 59-year-old Samantha failed to identify any statements that supported her defamation claims, the New York Times reported. Honeywell also noted that many of Meghan’s comments were protected, either because they were pure opinion or substantially true.
It marked the third time Samantha tried to bring the case against her half-sister to court.
Following their explosive departure from the royal family, Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, joined Winfrey for an hour-long interview that went on to air on CBS. At one point during the sit-down, the talk show host asked the former “Suits” star about her relationship with Samantha, her half-sister from their father Thomas Markle’s first marriage. She specifically homed in on the elder Markle’s tell-all, “The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister Part 1.”
“I think it would be very hard to ‘tell all’ when you don’t know me,” Meghan said. “I don’t feel comfortable talking about people that I really don’t know.”
At another point in the interview, the duchess said she grew up as an “only child” and that she always wished she had siblings.
Samantha, who lives in Lakeland, Fla., argued her half-sister’s statements were “disparaging, hurtful, and false,” and made her out to be “a stranger, a liar, and a … deceptive fame-seeking imposter with avaricious intentions.”
As a result, Meghan’s fan base, including “a significant part of Lakeland’s population,” grew angry and “turned against” Samantha, according to court documents.
Samantha had been seeking $75,000 in damages.
