Meghan Markle asks for the Higher Court injunction to prevent exposure of the names of her five friends who defended her in a People Magazine interview.
Today, Meghan Markle asked the Higher Court injunction to prevent anyone from exposing the names of her five friends that defended her in a People Magazine interview. This comes as the five women went to the magazine to anonymously vouch for Markle amidst the unauthorized release of a letter she sent to her father.
The Mail On Sunday Takes A Hit From Markle
Markle pleaded for the protection of the privacy of her friends. “These five women are not on trial, and nor am I,” she said in a witness statement that was a part of today’s court filing. “Each of these women is a private citizen, young mother, and each has a basic right to privacy,” she added.
Markle claims that the threat to expose the names of her friends was, “for no reason other than clickbait and commercial gain”. Meghan was not aware that her friends spoke to People until the article was published. Now, High Court of Justice in London may call her friends to testify that Markle had no knowledge of the friends speaking to People.
She went on to slam the Mail, stating, “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.”
A spokesperson for The Mail On Sunday responded by saying that “The Mail on Sunday had absolutely no intention of publishing the identity of the five friends this weekend. 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.”
Where Does This Stem From?
In October 2019, Markle filed a lawsuit against The Mail On Sunday and its parent company, Associated Newspapers, for unlawfully releasing the private letter she sent to her father.
After Meghan’s five friends went to People Magazine to defend her, and Markle’s father, Thomas Markle, was not happy. Mr. Markle released the letter that Meghan sent to him in order to “defend himself” according to The Daily Mail. He felt that Meghan’s friends mischaracterized him when they spoke to People.
The letter featured this emotional plea from Meghan to her father in reference to his maintained relationship to the press, “please allow us to live our lives in peace. Please stop lying, please stop creating so much pain, please stop exploiting my relationship with my husband. I realize you are so far down this rabbit hole that you feel (or may feel) there’s no way out, but if you take a moment to pause I think you’ll see that being able to live with a clear conscience is more valuable than any payment in the world.”
Meghan went on to write, “for some reason you choose to continue fabricating these stories, manufacturing this fictitious narrative, and entrenching yourself deeper into this web you’ve spun. The only thing that helps me sleep at night is the faith and knowing that a lie can’t live forever.” While the relationship between Meghan and her father remained strenuous, the Duchess of Sussex remains committed to protecting her loved ones.