Meghan Markle Fires Back At UK Tabloid For Threatening To Expose 5 Friends

Meghan Markle released a statement in response to Mail on Sunday’s attempt at naming her five friends who spoke in her defense in a 2019 interview with People.

The Duchess of Sussex’s legal battle against Mail on Sunday continues. Markle sued the tabloid for releasing her private letters to her dad. According to the publication, her dad, Thomas Markle. Sr., came forward to deny her friends’ claim about their relationship. He exposed Markle’s letter to reveal how the duchess communicated with him in contrast to her pals’ claim that she really cared about him.

“These five women are not on trial, and nor am I,” Markle said in a her witness statement filed at London’s High Court of Justice on Thursday obtained by Harper's Bazaar.

“The publisher of the Mail on Sunday is the one on trial. It is this publisher that acted unlawfully and is attempting to evade accountability; to create a circus and distract from the point of this case—that the Mail on Sunday unlawfully published my private letter.”

Markle said that those women are private citizens and they have the basic right to privacy. She also said that Mail on Sunday has no reason to reveal their identities other than for “clickbait.”

“Both the Mail on Sunday and the court system have their names on a confidential schedule, but for the Mail on Sunday to expose them in the public domain for no reason other than clickbait and commercial gain is vicious and poses a threat to their emotional and mental wellbeing,” Markle stated.

A source close to the duchess also told Harper’s Bazaar that the tabloid’s threat to publish the names of Markle’s friends “has nothing to do with the case, and is only being done so the Mail can target five innocent women through the pages of its newspapers and its website.”

Meanwhile, Mail on Sunday denied that it is planning to release the names of Markle’s five friends. However, the publication also does not believe that their names should be kept secret.

"To set the record straight, the Mail on Sunday had absolutely no intention of publishing the identities of the five friends this weekend,” the Mail on Sunday’s spokesperson said.

“But their evidence is at the heart of the case and we see no reason why their identities should be kept secret. That is why we told the Duchess’s lawyers last week that the question of their confidentiality should be properly considered by the Court.”

Meanwhile, royal expert Marlene Koenig criticized Markle for dragging other royals in her court battle. According to Koenig, Markle should have not mentioned Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie and Prince Michael because the three are not working royals. Koenig even called Markle’s move “embarrassing.”

“It is a bit embarrassing that she brought the York princesses and prince Michael into the case. She should have known that none are working Royals,” Koenig wrote.