CELEBRITY
Meghan Markle wins major court battle against sister Samantha
Meghan Markle has secured court victory against her half-sister Samantha as judge dismissed defamation case.
Samantha Markle accused Meghan making “demonstrably false and malicious statements” about her to a “worldwide audience” after the explosive 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview.
A Florida judge has dismissed the lawsuit, saying the duchess was expressing “an opinion about her childhood and her relationship with her half-sibling” and a statement of pure opinion was “not capable of being proved false”.
In a court order, US District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell wrote: “As a reasonable listener would understand it, the defendant merely expresses an opinion about her childhood and her relationship with her half-siblings.
Thus, the court finds that the defendant’s statement is not objectively verifiable or subject to empirical proof…. plaintiff cannot plausibly disprove the defendant’s opinion of her own childhood.”
Samantha Markle claimed she was defamed by Meghan in the interview when the duchess “falsely and maliciously” said that she was “an only child”.