Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MEGHAN’S DAD: I TOOK DRUGS
Source tells of his days in Hollywood
THOMAS Markle has admitted he took drugs while raising his teenage daughter Meghan.
The former lighting director said in an interview: “I don’t do drugs, haven’t for more than 20 years.”
A source insisted drugs were “part and parcel” of the TV industry and added: “Tom was no different.”
THOMAS Markle turned to drugs to cope with the pressures of life in Hollywood and to give daughter Meghan a better life, it is claimed.
The 74-year-old admitted he got high while the future duchess was young, but insisted he has not touched drugs since.
He was asked in an interview about claims he is an alcoholic and replied: “I hardly drink at all, just a little wine with my dinner, nothing much.”
But he added: “I don’t do drugs, haven’t for more than 20 years.”
It was also claimed Thomas, who has not spoken to 36-year-old Meghan for more than two months, cannot get hold of his daughter as she has changed her phone number.
The retired Hollywood lighting director he is said to be worried he may never be allowed to see any grandchildren she may have with Prince Harry.
A family source said of Thomas’ drugs admission: “When Tom worked in television, drugs were part and parcel of the industry. They were rife.
“Tom was no different. He worked every hour God sent so he could give Meghan the life he wanted for her.
“Sixteen-hour days were normal. Tom used to work well into the night.
“The spare time he had off he’d sleep for a little while but then spend every minute he could with Meghan before going back to work.
“After a while, such long hours take their toll and Tom would use drugs that helped him work for longer. Coffee just didn’t cut it.”
Thomas did not specify which drugs he used in his interview with the Mail on
Sunday. But his daughter Samantha said last night marijuana was popular at the time he worked in Hollywood.
She added: “My father is upstanding and doesn’t really drink and he doesn’t do recreational drugs.
“But in the 60s, 70s and 80s for most people I know in America it was a cultural thing to smoke marijuana.
“Most people did. I’m sure people like The Beatles smoked pot when they were on tour. It was a sign of the times. I don’t think my father is the only one who can ever have been condemned for having done that. He was never regularly doing it, he never smelt of it and I’ve never seen my father smoke it.
“But certainly my father has never taken cocaine or any other drugs like that. He didn’t have the mentality for it.
“He was a really successful lighting director which required very sharp visuals and attention to detail.
“If he had been a drug addict he wouldn’t have been successful for 40 years in a highly technical job, no way.”
Meghan was unaware of her dad’s drugs past. A friend told how Thomas, who is recovering from heart surgery which stopped him going to his daughter’s royal wedding in May, now “feels completely cut off ” from her.
The pal added: “He used to have Meghan’s number but now if he tries it’s dead. She, or the Palace, have changed them all. Only last week he mentioned it was Meghan’s birthday this Saturday, but he has no idea how to send her a card. We joked he should turn up himself and hand-deliver it.
“It’s disgusting he does not know how to get hold of her.
“What would happen if something happened to him?”
Thomas’ fears over never seeing any children Meghan may have were also reported in the interview. He has made no secret of his hopes that she starts her own family. He already has three grandchildren from his two eldest children. A friend in Rosarito, Mexico, where Thomas lives, said: “Tom loves children. He dotes on them.
“He knows Meghan has always wanted children, but it breaks his heart
In the 60s, 70s and 80s it was a cultural thing to smoke pot SAMANTHA ON HER DAD’S DRUG USE IN THE PAST
to think he will not get to see any grandchild she has with Harry. He keeps asking himself over and over why? The only thing he can think of is the shots he’s taken at the royal family.
“Tom did so out of frustration, nothing more.
“It was like no one was listening to him while his ex-wife Doria was being played out in the media as though she could do no wrong. He has some bitterness about that. What people don’t realise is how much of a role Tom played in Meg’s life.”
It had been reported Thomas felt it would be better for all had he not survived his heart operation.
But Samantha insisted: “My father never said that he thought he would be better off dead. He’s very upset.”
But a source said: “Tom feels it would be easier for Meghan if he were out of the picture completely.
“He has told people there is a part of him that thinks it would be easier if his heart packed up all together and he was no longer around. He thinks if he did die there would be an outpouring of sympathy for Meg.”
Thomas said he believes Princess Diana would have loathed the way he had been treated.
He said in the interview: “They [the royals] have Meghan treating her father in a way that Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, would have loathed. That’s not what Diana stood for.”
Samantha added: “I believe he’s right about what he said about Diana though because Diana was a loving humanitarian, she was very diplomatic and she treated her family with a lot of respect.
“But I don’t think Meghan should need someone like Diana to tell her how to treat her father. She’s almost 37, not 12, so she knows the right way to treat people.
“The thing both my dad and I are sick of is our family being publicly mocked and flogged.
“The challenges that we’ve had have been blown way out of proportion.”
Dad-of-three Thomas and Doria, his second wife, divorced in 1987 when Meghan was six.
For the next five years, she lived with her mum then moved back with her dad in Los Angeles. Meghan left for college at 17 and never returned as she pursued her acting career.
But she and Thomas remained close, none more so than when his mum Doris was diagnosed with dementia in 2009.
Meghan’s half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, 51, said: “For two years, every other weekend Meghan visited gran without fail.
“She would read to her, show her pictures, watch TV with her. She did anything to make life appear as normal as possible. As she grew worse gran would often forget who my dad or I was, we’d go every weekend.
“But when Meg walked in an instant smile crossed gran’s face and she knew she’d be OK. Meghan has this ability to bring comfort to those she meets, and I truly think its something similar to what Princess Diana had. She was then still very close to dad.”
But after Doris died, Meghan landed a part in the US legal drama, Suits, filmed in Toronto.
She and Thomas spoke less and less and he moved to Rosarito after being made bankrupt. Since news of his daughter’s relationship with Harry emerged in 2016, friends said at best contact between them has been “intermittent”. Thomas has never met the prince and has only spoken to him on the phone.
But he said in his interview he wouldn’t care if Harry, 33, never spoke to him again. He added: “I’ll survive”. A week before the royal wedding on May 19 at Windsor Castle it was still not known if Thomas would walk his daughter down the aisle.
And he was caught out staging paparazzi pictures of himself. He had a heart attack after the story came out and needed surgery. He claimed doctors banned him from making the flight to London and Prince Charles walked Meghan down the aisle.
According to reports in the US, the duchess now “lives in fear” her dad would leak their conversations if she were to speak to him.
An insider said: “Meghan is so upset over Thomas. She’s upset for a couple of reasons.
“She doesn’t even know how to communicate with her dad without knowing he won’t exploit her.”
But despite his hurt and anger amid all the stories surrounding the Markle family, Thomas said in his interview: “Meghan is everything to me. I love her and I always will.”
Kensington Palace last night declined to comment on his claims.
ON MEGHAN I fear I won’t be allowed to see grandkids and I haven’t got her phone number now ON BOOZE I hardly drink at all, just a little wine with my dinner.. nothing much ON DIANA She would have loathed the way I’ve been treated.. it really hurts It breaks his heart to think he will not get to see his grandkids FRIEND ON TOM’S FEARS OVER MEGHAN CHILDREN