New twist in Meghan Markle's legal drama with sister
Meghan Markle's sister Samantha Markle is suing the Duchess of Sussex for over $100,000 in damages in a defamation lawsuit, with the 57-year-old saying her reputation was damaged by Meghan's comments in her bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021.
Now, Oprah may be questioned by lawyers about the interview as she's among the witnesses Samantha wishes to call on, according to The Sun.
Samantha reportedly also wants Harry to undergo a deposition as well, but it's unlikely this will happen.
She also claims she was defamed by the book Finding Freedom, written by friend of the couple Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand.
Meghan's lawyer Michael Kump has revealed Samantha's legal team has "identified a whopping 19 non-party witnesses, including Prince Harry, Meghan’s mother, Oprah Winfrey" as well as others, including Scobie and Durand.
Depositions are part of the "discovery process" in the US, with Kump saying discovery should be halted until Meghan's request to dismiss the case had been decided.
He adds that in an "attempt to rescue her case", Samantha has claimed Meghan is responsible for Finding Freedom's comments.
"To state the obvious, because Meghan did not write Finding Freedom, she cannot be liable for statements in the book. It really could not be simpler than that," Kump said.
He adds that Meghan's comments to Oprah are protected by the First Amendment.
Queen's private talk with Meghan
It comes after reports the Queen had a private talk with Meghan, encouraging her to mend the rift with her father Thomas Markle.
In the soon-to-be-released book The New Royals, expert Katie Nicholl claims the pair had spoken about Meghan's relationship with her father after the Duchess' wedding to Prince Harry sparked drama between them.
There were plans for Thomas to walk Meghan down the aisle at her 2018 wedding, but then he was caught out reportedly staging paparazzi photos days prior.
After news he had been colluding with the paparazzi, Thomas pulled out of the wedding due to a heart attack, and instead watched the royal nuptials from his bed.
Speaking to the Daily Mail following the wedding, Thomas said he and Prince Harry had a heated phone call after Harry had warned him to avoid the paparazzi.
"Harry told me that I should never go to the press. That it would end in tears. He said, 'They will eat you alive'. He was right," Thomas said in the 2018 interview.
Thomas said he hung up on Harry during the phone call after the Prince reportedly told Thomas he should have listened to him.
According to The New Royals, the Queen was unhappy with how the whole situation was handled.
"The Queen could see how damaging the situation was between Meghan and her father and she did speak to Meghan about it and tried to encourage her to talk to Thomas," Katie wrote in the book.
She added a royal source had told her The Queen thought "the whole thing was quite badly handled with Thomas Markle and if it had been done differently, it would have come out better".
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