Meghan Markle speaks ‘her’ truth, where she replaces facts with feelings

Joe Hildebrand asks why Meghan Markle should have to tell “the” truth when she can simply speak “her” truth?

FOR reasons that space does not permit, nor that I really understand, I spent much of Monday afternoon giving a speech about truth and ethics to a conference room full of financial advisers.

I lamented the death of empirical truth, the rise of “fake news” and “alternative facts”, and did a helpful deep-dive into the Biden administration’s attempt to redefine the word “recession”.

But little did I know that a Star of Bethlehem-sized guiding light was blinking right in front of me the whole time, had I only not been too blind to see it.

This was Meghan Markle’s declaration to Oprah that she was an only child, a state of being that was apparently news to her half-sister, Samantha Markle.

Fortunately, in an attempt to have Samantha’s lawsuit dismissed, Meghan’s lawyers cleared the whole thing up by saying her claim was “not meant to be a statement of objective fact” but rather a “subjective statement” about how she feels.

This moment is, I feel, an insufficiently recognised milestone in our understanding of the space-time continuum.

Meghan Markle speaks “her” truth to Oprah.

For too long people — especially the grossly overprivileged — have been unfairly constrained in having to abide by things like “facts” and “truth”.

Why should Meghan have to tell “the” truth when she can simply speak “her” truth? Indeed, why should any of us?

For example, next time the police come around and ask me why my third child’s gone missing, I’ll say that I only really felt like I had two in the first place.

Next time I fill out a Centrelink form, I’ll say I’m a six foot six NBA player in a de facto relationship with a Kardashian.

And the next time I see my bank manager, I’ll tell him “I feel like a million bucks!”.

Just imagine his surprise and delight when he realises I mean it quite literally. No doubt he’ll reach for the chequebook straight away — and, if not, I can always try Oprah.