Meghan Markle & Sister Virtually Face-Off In First Court Battle Over Defamation

Meghan Markle and her sister have officially begun their court proceedings!

After several months of Samantha alleging that her half-sister Meghan had defamed her to promote her "false rags to riches" narrative, the duo finally got their day in court. The elder Markle, who filed the suit last year, is asking the legal system for $75,000 in damages over the alleged lies her younger sister told during her 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey and from passages in the biography, "Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of A Modern Royal Family."

Although Meghan applied to have Samantha's case thrown out, the sisters will be battling it out to the very end. The pair and their legal team made a virtual appearance via Zoom to kick off the hearing that might mar their relationship further.

Samantha initially began the hearing with her video turned on while interacting with something in the background before turning it off for the rest of the event. 

Daily Mail shared that the 58-year-old's attorney Peter Ticktin began his opening remarks by all eyeing that Meghan used "Finding Freedom" — written by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand — "to affirm this false narrative that she supposedly lived this rags-to-riches thing."

He claimed that the Duchess of Sussex had kept going even after she was caught lying about her education and "getting all these scholarships" when it was her father, Thomas, who "paid for her education for goodness sakes." 

Ultimately, he wanted the courts to find out why she was bent on "putting her sister down. Why else is she putting her father down? Why else is she denying her family, who has done nothing but good to her all her life? She never had a problem with them at all." 

Ticktin answered his query, pointing out that Meghan was denying her family to hide the fact that she falsified "this narrative that she went from rags to riches which is nonsense," without realizing the harm it would cause her elder sister. The University of Miami School of Law alum further stated:

"Probably never realizing this would put an innocent person into the fray where all of a sudden she has hundreds of threats on her life coming at her, a stalker she had to deal with."

In response to the accusations, Meghan's lawyer, Michael Kump, led with his slam that 90% of Ticktin's remarks were "inappropriate" and were "quite frankly offensive" to his client. 

He additionally argued that since seven out of the ten alleged defamatory statements cited by Samantha were from "Finding Freedom," they should be excluded from the proceedings as Meghan neither wrote nor published it.

Taking it further, he noted that his client was simply talking about her experiences growing up and no one else's. As the 80-minute hearing proceeded, Ticktin admitted that even though it was "not the strongest case in the world," they hoped to make it stronger as it moved along.

The Blast had first reported the legal action earlier this month, highlighting Samantha's demands. The actress had asked for a trial by jury in addition to the $75,000 she wanted in damages.

She had even gone as far as denying Meghan's accusations that they did not spend much time together during childhood. Samantha also called her younger half-sister's comments about "lies designed to destroy" her reputation, subjecting her to "humiliation, shame, and hatred worldwide."

The last time Samantha had publicly addressed her beef with her sister was during an interview that saw her talking about the "Suits" alum and Prince Harry's decision to leave the Royal world behind and move to North Africa. Per The Blast, the mother-of-three shared her displeasure regarding the situation, stating:

"It is a slap in the face. I think what is shocking is the lack of consideration for the people involved, the British royal family, the promises that were originally made to honor royal duties and to lead by example."

She added that her sister only had herself to blame for the mess she and Harry found themselves in. According to her, the couple was aware of their duties and what the media would do to them when they "stepped into the spotlight."

As far as Samantha was concerned, if Meghan "wanted to be so private," she would not "have sat at Wimbledon with 40 empty seats around her."