Half-Sister Accuses Meghan Markle Of Creating 'Rags-To-Royalty' Narrative To Destroy Her Reputation

Meghan Markle's half-sister is accusing the Duchess of Sussex of concocting a "rags-to-royalty" narrative that allegedly destroyed her reputation.

Samantha Markle, 58, who shares a father with Meghan, appeared virtually for a court hearing Wednesday in her defamation case against the 42-year-old duchess.

Meghan is being sued by her estranged half-sister for making "demonstrably false and malicious statements" about her during her and Prince Harry's explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, according to the New York Post.

Samantha also claimed that Meghan "published and disseminated false and malicious statements" about her in the 2020 biography "Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family," which was penned by Carolyn Durand and Omid Scobie.

Meghan "orchestrated the campaign to defame and destroy her sister's and her father's reputation and credibility in order to preserve and promote the false 'rags-to-royalty' narrative [Meghan] had fabricated about her life to the Royal Family and the worldwide media," Samantha reportedly said during the Wednesday hearing.

Samantha's lawyer, Peter Ticktin, also said Meghan had been "putting her sister down" in public because "she got caught" lying about her childhood, as per Sky News Australia.

"She was lying about her education, that she was getting all these scholarships. Her father paid for her education for goodness sakes, and she got caught with this lie," he said further.

Meghan's lawyer, Michael Kump, reportedly told the court that Samantha has no grounds to sue the former "Suits" star for defamation, noting that the claims against his client were "frankly offensive."

"Not all perceived slights should be litigated and that is true in this case. The plaintiff takes issue with Meghan's impressions of her own childhood, but that is not an appropriate subject for a court of law," Kump explained, according to the New York Post.

Kump added that Meghan's statements "are not defamatory" and that she has the "right to voice opinions" under the First Amendment.

Kump also pointed out that Meghan did not write "Finding Freedom," which contained statements that Samantha claimed had tarnished her name; hence, Meghan cannot be sued over a book she did not write.

Judge Charlene Honeywell said she found it "really difficult" to see how Meghan's statements were defamatory, Marca reported.

Samantha, who filed the lawsuit in March last year, is seeking $75,000 in damages because her half-sister allegedly subjected her to "humiliation, embarrassment and hatred on a global scale," according to the lawsuit.