Meghan Markle denies lying to Oprah
Meghan Markle's half-sister Samantha has proceeded with legal action over what she claims are "false and malicious lies" about Meghan's fairytale "rags-to-royalty" story – in particular a comment the Duchess made in her infamous Oprah Winfrey interview that she "grew up as an only child".
A defamation court has now heard that Meghan Markle has denied this comment constitutes a lie, insisting instead that it was a subjective statement regarding her feelings, rather than any kind of “objective fact” .
Samantha is suing Meghan over both the TV interview special with Winfrey and the Finding Freedom biography, claiming that she was subjected to "humiliation, shame and hatred on a worldwide scale". She is seeking $75,000 ($108,000 AUD) in damages.
Meanwhile, Meghan's legal team has moved to dismiss the case, stating: "Plaintiff [Samantha] first asserts that she can disprove that Meghan 'grew up as an only child'.
"But this perception is inherently unfalsifiable. It is hard to imagine a more personal and subjective feeling than how one views their own childhood.
"Moreover, Plaintiff's opposition completely ignores the context of the statement, where Ms Winfrey asked Meghan about her 'relationship' with Plaintiff (to whom Ms Winfrey referred as her 'half-sister on her father's side').
"Meghan's response to that question that she 'grew up as an only child' was obviously not meant to be a statement of objective fact that she had no genetic siblings or half-siblings.”
"Rather, it was a textbook example of a subjective statement about how a person feels about her childhood."
Further, they argue that Meghan can't be sued over contents of the book Finding Freedom because she did not write it.
The duchess's legal team is calling for the case to be dismissed and for "attorneys' fees, costs and other relief" to be paid.
Image: Getty