Thomas Markle Snr’s Sunrise comments on Meghan divide opinions

Columnists Miranda Devine and Mibenge Nsenduluka are starkly divided on whether Meghan is dramatising her suicidal experience, as her father suggests, or raising awareness of mental health and institutional racism in a way that would make Princess Diana proud. DO OUR POLL

Columnists Miranda Devine and Mibenge Nsenduluka are starkly divided on whether Meghan is dramatising her suicidal experience, as her father suggested to Sunrise on Wednesday morning, or whether she and husband Harry are raising awareness of mental health and institutionalist racism in a way that would make Princess Diana proud.
Read their cases here and have your say in our poll.

Meghan a ‘controlling’ wife who is holding Harry hostage

By Miranda Devine

Whatever you think of Thomas Markle Snr., he knows his daughter well.

In his paid interview with Seven’s Sunrise, Meghan Markle’s father rejected her most sensational bid for victimhood — the claim that she was suicidal and the Palace ignored her cry for help.
It was this callous disregard for her mental health that she claimed precipitated Megxit.

But the tale, which the American actress-turned-Duchess of Sussex told Oprah Winfrey in March, never passed the sniff test. It seemed like another transparent ploy for attention from the narcissistic control freak who holds Prince Harry hostage.

And now her father has belled the cat.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex in 2018, soon after embarking on royal duties. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

“I have some doubts about it,” Markle Snr told Sunrise when asked about his daughter’s professed mental health struggles in the UK, which curiously mirrored the struggles of her late mother-in-law Princess Diana.

“I don’t know that she went through it. The way that it was described on the Oprah show was that she told her husband (Harry) about it and then he went and asked somebody in the royals about it ...
“If my wife or my child came to me and said I am having a nervous breakdown and thinking about suicide, I would take them immediately to a doctor. I wouldn’t go and check with somebody first.

“So, I think that Harry dropped the ball (and) is obviously not very supportive if he didn’t realise that.”

He’s dead right. What kind of a gormless wimp is Harry, anyway, that he had to ask Daddy and Granny for permission to take his supposedly suicidal wife to a doctor? Either the story Meghan told Oprah isn’t true or Harry knew Meghan was play-acting and didn’t need a doctor. Either way, she is a fantasist.

Markle Snr elaborated on the psychological profile of his estranged youngest child.

“I think maybe Meghan was a little dramatic here and I think Harry was a total failure as a husband.”

Bingo.

Thomas Markle interviewed via video by Sunrise on Wednesday morning. Picture: Seven

Markle also described his daughter as “very controlling … and could certainly control any man,” which is hardly news to anyone with eyes.

It is hard to escape the conclusion that Meghan dropped her family like a cheap suit as soon as she started dating Harry because she didn’t want him to be turned off by her uncouth relatives.
Judging by her fragile relationship with the truth, she probably also didn’t want her family inadvertently spilling the beans to Harry about some of her tall tales.

When he got too chatty with the British tabloids, it was the perfect excuse to disinvite her shambolic embarrassment of a father from her wedding.

She had recreated herself to become Harry’s wife. It was the acting role of her life. But once ensconced in the bosom of the royal family, she sure wasn’t going to hide her wares in the musty splendour of Kensington Palace or bury her talents in a mere cottage on the grounds of Windsor Castle. She was a star. She was born to shine!

George and Amal and Oprah and Beyonce now wanted to be her friend. No longer was she a B-grade actor with her nose pressed up against the window on Oscar night.
She wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to be a hot ticket in California, so the narrative was born, that if she didn’t leave the UK, she would die, and Harry bought it.

Meghan hasn’t introduces her son Archie to his grandfather Thomas Markle Snr yet. Picture: Henk Kruger / AFP)

So, there she is in bucolic Montecito, a two-hour drive from her dad, and he has never seen his two grandchildren. He sent flowers for her 40th birthday and never heard back.

The tragedy of it all is that she has projected her self-inflicted family dysfunction onto Harry. She has estranged him from his family, his country and his royal heritage.
She also has selfishly denied her children their royal history and extended family.
She may imagine that she can bring the British monarchy to heel, but it’s never going to happen.
All she will do is make her husband as miserable as her father.

Harry fearlessly defending his wife as she courageously speaks out

By Mibenge Nsenduluka

When Bindi Irwin’s mum Terri shared a cryptic quote about avoiding certain people to protect your mental health, she hit the nail on the head.

In June, Bindi, 23, took a break from social media amid a bitter family feud with her 82-year-old grandfather Bob and Terri posted a quote by author and military veteran Steve Maraboli which read, “Avoiding certain people to protect your mental health is not weakness ... it’s wisdom.”

Like Bindi, Meghan Markle has also distanced herself from family members after enduring a very public family feud and after watching her dad Thomas Markle’s latest spectacle, I’m not surprised.

Meghan with the Queen, a month after marrying Prince Harry. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Earlier this morning while speaking to Sunrise, Mr Markle, 77, once again cashed in on his daughter’s heartache, trashing his own flesh and blood in yet another shameless and unnecessary interview.

Months after the Duchess of Sussex’s brave mental health revelation to Oprah Winfrey, the father-of-three raised doubts about the Suits star’s struggle with suicide, telling TV hosts Kochie and Nat, “I have some doubts about it, I don’t know that she went through it.”

Moments after heartlessly fuelling the global smear campaign against his own daughter, Mr. Markle insisted “I love my daughter”.

Really??

A parent’s job is to love and protect their offspring and self-serving Mr. Markle has failed miserably.

Meghan however continues to put her children Archie and Lilibet first and their grandfather could learn a lot from this.

Harry has strongly defended his mixed-race wife against racist abuse. Picture: Michele Spatari / AFP

After all, she quit Royal life in part because she didn’t want her babies to be subjected to the same cruel bullying that she endured for years.

From racist headlines disguised as “journalism” (ie: (“Almost) Straight Outta Compton”), to vicious trolling by keyboard warriors, Meghan has been unfairly attacked for years.

Her strength, resilience and commitment to tackling injustice is a middle finger to outdated sexist ideologies which is clearly triggering for some.

But despite it all, the mother-of-two remains poised and dignified while focused on marriage, motherhood and charity work.

Sure, the timing of her bombshell interview with Winfrey in which she claimed a member of the royal family had “concerns” about Archie’s skintone wasn’t great, with Prince Philip sick in hospital at the time, but that’s one of the fundamental issues with racism and for those who face it — it’s never convenient.

Fortunately her husband Prince Harry has consistently had her back while fearlessly defending his mixed-race wife against a torrent of abuse and media prejudice.

Last year, on what would have been Princess Diana’s 59th birthday, her son Prince Harry chose to raise awareness about institutional racism.

I can’t help but think that between all the social causes and charity work that Meghan and Harry do, Princess Diana, who herself was an avid philanthropist, would be exceptionally proud.