Meghan’s ‘humiliating’ claim to be an only child was not meant as fact, insist lawyers

THE Duchess of Sussex’s account of her upbringing in the Oprah Winfrey interview was not meant to be “objective fact” but a subjective statement of her feelings, her lawyers have argued in a defamation case brought by her estranged sister.

The Duchess’s description of how she “grew up as an only child” cannot be false as it is a “textbook example of a subjective statement about how a person feels about her childhood”, they say.

In legal papers submitted to a court in Florida as part of an ongoing case filed by Samantha Markle, the Duchess’s legal team has moved to dismiss it.

Samantha, the daughter of Thomas Markle, the Duchess’s father, is seeking $75,000 (£57,000) in damages over the Sussexes’ interview and Finding Freedom biography which she claimed subjected her to “humiliation, shame and hatred on a worldwide scale”.

She claims her half-sister, who was interviewed for the television special alongside the Duke, told “false and malicious lies” about her fairytale “rags-toroyalty” upbringing at her paternal family’s expense.

In particular, Samantha contests her half-sister’s statement that she “grew up as an only child”.

The Duchess’s lawyers wrote in the

‘It is hard to imagine a more personal and subjective feeling than how one views their own childhood’

paperwork: “Plaintiff [Samantha] first asserts that she can disprove that Meghan ‘grew up as an only child’, but this perception is inherently unfalsifiable. It is hard to imagine a more personal and subjective feeling than how one views their own childhood.

“Moreover, plaintiff’s opposition completely ignores the context of the statement, where Ms Winfrey asked Meghan about her ‘relationship’ with Plaintiff (to whom Ms Winfrey referred as her ‘half-sister on her father’s side’).

“Meghan’s response to that question that she ‘grew up as an only child’ was obviously not meant to be a statement of objective fact that she had no genetic siblings or half-siblings.

“Rather, it was a textbook example of a subjective statement about how a person feels about her childhood.”

In the latest submission to the court, the Duchess’s team argue she also cannot be sued over Finding Freedom because she did not write it.

“Meghan did not make the statements; she cannot be liable for them,” they said. “It is that simple.”

Lawyers asked the court: “In sum, Meghan’s motion to dismiss should be granted, as should her request for attorneys’ fees, costs and other relief.”

Samantha argued that the Duchess “had fabricated about her life to the Royal family and the worldwide media”.