- Meghan Markle has plenty of reasons to loathe the British press.
- She reportedly blames the tabloids for her rift with her father, Thomas Markle.
- In this rare case, the tabloid vultures are not to blame.
Meghan Markle reportedly blames the British press for the rift that severed her relationship with her father, Thomas Markle.
It’s easy to understand where she’s coming from. The tabloids certainly haven’t made Meghan’s life easy. They all bfut drove her out of Britain.
Unfortunately for the Duchess of Sussex, the real cause for this rift lies much closer to home.
There Was a Time When Thomas And Meghan Markle Were Close
Even though Thomas Markle’s marriage to Doria Ragland – Meghan Markle’s mother – lasted less than a decade, his relationship with their sole daughter was by all accounts a positive one.
He reportedly funded her education. And back when she ran The Tig – her lifestyle blog – she frequently credited her father as being the key to her success.
Then Meghan Markle met Prince Harry on a blind date, and the whole world changed.
If you believe the court documents filed on her behalf, that blind date permanently altered the course of her history with her father too.
Why? Because the “intrusive” U.K. tabloids drove them apart:
Meghan provided her father with “substantial” financial support from 2014 onwards when she was at the height of her fame as an actor in Suits. She cut off the money in May 2018 after their relationship broke down around the time of her wedding to Prince Harry, and they have not spoken since. [They] had a very close father/daughter relationship throughout her childhood and remained close until he was targeted three years ago by intrusive UK tabloid media.
As devastating as that accusation is, it fails to hold up to scrutiny.
The Real Culprit Is Thomas Markle
Meghan Markle isn’t the first “commoner” to marry into royalty, and she certainly won’t be the last. So that isn’t what makes her situation so peculiar.
What makes her situation unusual is Thomas Markle’s behavior since his daughter’s fateful blind date with Prince Harry. He staged paparazzi photos of himself, fueled tabloid rumors about his last-minute absence from the royal wedding, and attacked Prince Harry for good measure.
And that was in 2018 alone.
It’s arguably gotten worse in the two years since.
At the crux of Meghan Markle’s lawsuit against the Daily Mail’s parent company is the accusation they published a private letter she wrote to her father. No doubt this secured a hefty payday for the elder Markle, since it was an “exclusive” and all.
Perhaps most disturbing were his own words in the Channel 5 documentary, “Thomas Markle: My Story.”
In addition to sharing private and intimate photos of the Duchess of Sussex, he admitted he was getting paid handsomely to air his daughter’s dirty laundry. He made clear he was doing so because he thought the royals owed him.
And then, he sent a chilling message to his daughter:
I’m in my senior years now. It’s time to look after Daddy.
Those words speak for themselves.
While I’m genuinely sorry for Meghan Markle, this isn’t just the British media’s fault. They didn’t force her father into anything. They merely gave him a platform where his true colors could bleed through.
Although the tabloid vultures did a bang-up job of making Meghan’s life a living hell, they couldn’t have done so without Thomas’ very willing – and equally disturbing – help.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.