Meghan Markle’s sister, Samantha Markle, was forced to move home and “faced realistic death threats” after the release of the Duchess of Sussex’s Netflix documentary according to new court filings that hit the spotlight.
The Duchess of Sussex was sued by her half-sister over comments she made to Oprah Winfrey in 2021 and on her Netflix docuseries, ‘Harry & Meghan’, in 2022.
But, she lost the case back in March when a US court dismissed the defamation case. However, she is currently fighting to appeal the ruling at the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
Meghan’s Netflix show contained a segment stating Samantha “was part of the group that was putting out … disinformation” and ending with Meghan saying: “You are making people want to kill me.”
A filing by Samantha’s lawyer, seen by outlet Newsweek, read: “There can be no doubt that Meghan Markle attacked her sister Samantha Markle verbally in her documentary.”
The filing reportedly adds the duchess’s half-sister “never was part of any group which put out disinformation, never trolled Meghan, was never part of any hate group, never used the N-word on tweets, never monetarized any hate tweets against Meghan, or did anything to make anyone want to kill Meghan or have Meghan made nervous because of any such activity.”
The outlet further claimed that the case is now focused on a particular segment in the documentary featuring Christopher Bouzy, founder of social media analysis firm Bot Sentinel, and Meghan’s own words.
Mr Bouzy said in the series: “So this is not your everyday trolling. It’s insane. And it was done by people who were just not the typical quote-unquote trolls. These are housewives. These are middle-aged Caucasian women. Samantha Markle was part of the group that was putting out a lot of this disinformation.”
The segment ended with Meghan saying: “You are making people want to kill me. It’s not just a tabloid. It’s not just some story. You are making me scared.”
Samantha’s lawyer argued the “you” of that sentence was not a generic reference to social media trolls in general, but was instead directed at Samantha.
The filing also reads: “Meghan now downplays the effect that her own words and the words of Christopher Bouzy and what the publication have had on Samantha, who has been forced to move residences, retract from public outings (such as going to the grocery store, or even earning a living, as she is no longer able to work as a social worker), and faced realistic death threats from individuals who have ‘sworn’ allegiance to Meghan in this ‘fight’ between the two sisters.”
It adds Samantha faces “very real effects” of Meghan’s “harmful” campaign against her half-sister.
Meghan’s lawyers have previously said in their own filing: “An implicit or express statement that [Samantha] belongs to a hate group spreading disinformation about Meghan is an opinion protected by the First Amendment.”
They added: “[Samantha’s] bad faith tactics are for nought: Each of the challenged implications in the opening appeal brief is nonactionable for two or more reasons. First, the District Court was correct that actual malice was absolutely lacking here. There is no claim Meghan harbored serious doubts about the basis for Bouzy’s on-camera statements, as required for her to be liable for the statements of a source.”
