Meghan Markle admitted to the British courts of having provided information to the authors of an unofficial biography on her and her husband Prince Harry, contrary to what she had previously indicated in the lawsuit against a British tabloid. The 40-year-old American actress won her privacy breach lawsuit in February against the Mail on Sunday. She accuses him of publishing a letter written in 2018, in which she asked her father Thomas Markle, 77, to stop pouring out and lying in the media about their broken relationship.
The tabloid with large circulation is now contesting this decision, during an appeal examined until Thursday in London. The Duchess of Sussex’s accusations there appeared to have been weakened by testimony Wednesday from Jason Knauf, the couple’s former communications secretary now in California.
Meghan admitted to having been involved in writing the book
Bringing water to the mill Mail on Sunday who wants to demonstrate that Meghan Markle regularly sought to influence public opinion, the latter claimed to have provided on behalf of the couple private information to the authors of the unofficial biography of the royal couple, Finding Freedom (“Harry and Meghan, free”). According to him, the book project being “routinely discussed” and “directly with the Duchess, in person and by e-mail”.
In written testimony provided to the court, Meghan admitted to having been involved in the writing of the book – which she and her husband had always denied until then – and apologized for misleading the court by failing to not having specified it at first instance. “I acknowledge that Jason Knauf provided information to the authors and that he did so with my knowledge,” she explains, adding however that “the extent of the information he had shared (was) unknown to him. “. “I apologize to the court for not remembering these exchanges at the time,” continues the Duchess.
Huge media pressure
Meghan Markle, however, argued that the information shared with the authors was “a far cry from the very detailed personal information” that the Mail on Sunday had published. Prince Harry, 37, sixth in the order of succession to the British crown, has repeatedly denounced media pressure on his couple and made it the main reason for his withdrawal from the royal family, effective since April 2020.
The British tabloids, often without pity against the Duchess, made their fat out of his backpedal. The Sun devoted its headline Thursday to a cartoon of Meghan, nicknamed “Madame Etourdie”, in reference to the series of children’s books Sir, madam.