Meghan Markle and Her Half-Sister Samantha Set for Court Face-Off

Meghan Markle is going to court over a lawsuit from her older half-sister Samantha Markle. Samantha sued the Duchess of Sussex for defamation after her 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey where Meghan said that she did not know Samantha well and had not spoken to her in years. After a few hurdles in the legal process, the case is now going to court with a start date of Nov. 4, 2024 in Tampa, Florida.

Court documents in this case were obtained on Monday by reporters from The Messenger, who also spoke to Samantha's attorney Peter Ticktin. He said that the case is only expected to last for five days, but it could extend longer. Samantha first filed this lawsuit in March of 2022, but it was dismissed by Judge Charlene Edwards who ruled that there was no way to prove whether Meghan was lying about her relationship with Samantha. Earlier this month, Samantha got another chance to present her arguments to a federal judge.

Samantha, now 58, shares a father with Meghan but not a mother. She is also 16 years older than the duchess. In 2021, she published a memoir called The Diary of Princess Pushy's Sister, which included her own analyses of Meghan's personality and psyche and claimed insight into her decisions as a member of the royal family. When asked about that book in her interview, Meghan said she had never been close with Samantha and that Samantha would not have been qualified to make those assessments.

"I grew up as an only child, which everyone who grew up around me knows, and I wished I had siblings. I would have loved to have had siblings," Meghan said, adding that she had not spoken to Samantha in "at least 18, 19 years."

Samantha claims that this is not true in her lawsuit. She claims that she has suffered "humiliation and hatred" because of Meghan's dismissal, and that she has been targeted with death threats from Meghan's fans. She also blames Meghan for the suspension of one of her social media accounts. She is seeking $75,000 in damages.

Meghan is represented by attorney Michael Kump, who told The New York Post: "This has always been a lawsuit in search of a viable claim. The case has failed because it runs head first up against defamation law and the First Amendment." If nothing changes over the next year, Kump will have to defend that position in court on Nov. 4, 2024.