Samantha Markle alleges she received “realistic death threats” and had to relocate due to backlash from Meghan’s Netflix documentary.
Samantha Markle, half-sister of Meghan Markle, has alleged that she faced “realistic death threats” and was “forced to move residences” due to the backlash following the release of the Sussexes’ Netflix documentary, per newly filed court documents cited by Newsweek.
Samantha, who shares a father with Meghan, initially filed a defamation lawsuit in 2022 against Meghan, claiming the Duchess had made “disparaging, hurtful, and false” remarks in her interview with Oprah Winfrey and in the ‘Harry & Meghan’ documentary series on Netflix.
Samantha’s lawsuit argues that Meghan portrayed her as “a stranger, a liar, and a… deceptive fame-seeking imposter with avaricious intentions,” which Samantha says has damaged her reputation.
Meghan’s legal team defended her statements, claiming, “An implicit or express statement that (Samantha) belongs to a hate group spreading disinformation about Meghan is an opinion protected by the First Amendment.” Meghan won the initial case; however, Samantha has since appealed the ruling, bringing the case to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal.
Meghan Markle’s sister ‘was never was part of any hate group’
Samantha’s lawyer, Peter Ticktin, contended, “There can be no doubt that Meghan Markle attacked her sister Samantha Markle verbally in her documentary.” Ticktin argued that Samantha, who uses a wheelchair, faced severe backlash from the Sussexes’ supporters and had to relocate for safety.
Central to Samantha’s case is a scene in the Netflix documentary where Christopher Bouzy, a friend of Meghan and Harry, discussed the intense online harassment that Meghan endured due to “people who were just not the typical quote-unquote trolls.”
“These are housewives, these are middle-aged Caucasian women,” Bouzy stated and claimed that “Samantha Markle was part of the group that was putting out a lot of this disinformation.”
“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,” the scene concluded.
Ticktin contended that “(Samantha) was 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 monetized 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.”
