MEGHAN Markle has launched a legal bid to stop Prince Harry being quizzed after being sued over a “rags to riches” Oprah story.
It comes after reports that Samantha Markle was suing the Duchess of Sussex for defamation following claims she made in her bombshell Oprah interview last year.
Meghan Markle has launched a legal bid to stop Prince Harry being quizzed
It comes after claims that Samantha Markle is reportedly suing her half sister Meghan Markle for defamation
Prince Harry and Meghan spoke with Oprah last year
In the infamous interview, Meghan opened up to Oprah Winfrey about royal life, while speaking about her life growing up with mum Doria Ragland.
But in documents seen by TMZ, Samantha claimed Meghan spun a “rags to royalty” narrative about herself which she claims is false.
And Meghan’s lawyers are now attempting to block moves by her half-sister to depose their father Thomas Markle in a defamation lawsuit.
Lawyers for Samantha have indicated they want to depose (testify to under oath or by sworn affidavit) Thomas Markle between October 5 and 21.
The legal team are also seeking testimony from Prince Harry and Oprah herself.
But Meghan’s team have since asked the judge to halt the process of collecting and releasing evidence until after a ruling on whether the lawsuit will be thrown out, reports Newsweek.
Their motion argues the duchess did not make the statements in ‘Finding Freedom’, and that her statements to Oprah about her relationship with her half-sister were “non-actionable opinion that are also substantially true.”
The filing by Meghan’s team read: “A deposition of Mr. Markle at this juncture, along with other discovery, would be an unnecessary spectacle and waste of the parties’ time, money, and resources.
“[Samantha Markle] should not be permitted to force Meghan and, potentially, numerous non parties to devote substantial resources to extraneous discovery while a meritorious motion that could dispose of the entire case is pending.”
It continued: “In addition to the parties, she [Samantha] identified a whopping 19 non-party witnesses, including Prince Harry, Meghan’s mother, Oprah Winfrey, and several journalists/media personalities who reside in the United Kingdom, including Scobie and Durand, the authors of Finding Freedom.”
The Duchess of Sussex’s lawyers added that Meghan was “exercising fundamental First Amendment rights” to free speech.
Samantha previous made claims Meghan spread lies in order to bolster the notion she’s overcome with leeching family members.
According to TMZ, the documents allege Meghan fabricated a story of growing up in “virtual poverty”.
She also points out she and Meghan share the same dad, Thomas Markle, yet Meghan suggesting to Oprah she grew up an only child, saying: “I would have loved to have had siblings”.
Samantha says dad Thomas paid for Meghan to attend “elite and expensive private schools,” as well as dancing and acting classes.
