Feuds, arrests and a scathing tell-all: Inside Meghan Markle’s fractured family
MEGHAN Markle's dad has dropped another bombshell about the royal wedding. Her half-sister has given more trainwreck interviews. It's getting hard to keep up with this family.
MEGHAN Markle’s family drama has all the makings of an episode of Jerry Springer.
It's been a wild couple of weeks in royal news headlines, thanks to the former Suits star’s dysfunctional relatives. They've been causing her headaches since she became Prince Harry’s fiancee - and just days out from the wedding, they're showing no signs of quietening down.
Meghan's father, Thomas Markle Senior, has left everyone confused after going back and forth this week on whether or not he would be at the ceremony in Windsor to walk his daughter down the aisle.
On Monday, he announced via TMZ he would not be attending, after it was revealed he had been staging paparazzi photos. Thomas Sr also claimed that he'd recently suffered a heart attack.
Not long afterward, he insisted he would be going after all, as he wanted to be a "part of history."
Less than 24 hours later, and Thomas has once again pulled the pin.
But whether he wants to bail or not, it now appears he’s facing “major surgery” in Los Angeles instead of a trip to the UK.
Thomas Sr told TMZ that he will head into surgery 7:30am Wednesday, LA time, and that “They [doctors] will go in and clear blockage, repair damage and put a stent where it is needed.”
Following the initial news he would no longer be attending, a Kensington Palace spokesman said: “This is a deeply personal moment for Ms Markle in the days before her wedding. She and Prince Harry ask again for understanding and respect to be extended to Mr Markle in this difficult situation.”
This latest saga is far from the first Markle family drama to play out publicly.
Recently, her estranged half-brother Thomas Markle Junior has also been making a lot of noise. Earlier this month, he even publicly urged Prince Harry to ditch his "conceited" sister, before later changing his tune and beginning for an invitation to the wedding.
The 51-year-old initially shared a handwritten letter to In Touch, warning Harry that it’s “not too late” to stop the wedding.
“As more time passes to your royal wedding, it became very clear that this is the biggest mistake in royal wedding history,” Thomas Jr. wrote. “Meghan Markle is obviously not the right woman for you.”
He insisted the American actress, 36, is a “jaded, shallow, conceited woman that will make a joke of you and the royal family heritage.”
“I’m confused why you don’t see the real Meghan that the whole world now sees,” he claimed. “Meghan’s attempt to act the part of a princess like a below C average Hollywood actress is getting old."
Days later, he apologised, and used the same publication to publicly beg her to invite him to the wedding.
He also hit out at her in February, telling press that she delivered a "slap in the face" to him when he tried to contact her late last year.
According to Thomas Jr, he sent his half-sister a letter congratulating her on her engagement, and apologising if his personal troubles had caused her any embarrassment.
Thomas Jr was thrown in jail for two days after a drunken brawl with his fiancee Darlene Blount on New Year’s Eve. Last year, he was also arrested for brandishing a gun at his fiancee during another drunken fight.
According to him, Meghan never replied to his letter, and her lawyer told his lawyer that she had said: “That’s distant family and I don’t know those people.”
Of course, front and centre since news first broke of Harry and Meghan's relationship is her half-sister Samantha Grant, who conveniently changed her name back to Markle in recent months. She’s done the rounds of international media over the past 18 months — even appearing on A Current Affair in February — and provided a near-constant flow of (largely unflattering) information about Meghan to anyone who’ll listen. Samantha, who’s reportedly been estranged from her half-sister for years, has even been spruiking a new book, The Diary Of Princess Pushy’s Sister.
After it emerged that Thomas Senior had been selling staged paparazzi photos, Samantha took responsibility, telling press that she'd advised him it was a good idea.
In an interview with Good Morning Britain this week, she also hit out at the media, branding them vultures - prompting outspoken host Piers Morgan to hit right back with some home truths.
“There’s no bigger media vulture with this wedding than you, is there Ms Markle?” he asked her.
“How you can have the gall to come on here and talk about media vultures. You wrote a book called The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister.....You’ve been trashing her for two years, you little vulture.”
As far as dysfunctional families go, Meghan’s seems to be right up there — and it’s hard to keep track of who’s who. Here’s what we know about the Markles.
DORIA RAGLAND AND THOMAS MARKLE
Meghan’s parents, Doria Ragland and Thomas W. Markle, met on the set of soap opera General Hospital in the late 1970s and were married soon after.
“My dad was a lighting director for a soap opera and my mum was a temp at the studio,” Meghan wrote in a 2015 essay for Elle UK. “I like to think he was drawn to her sweet eyes and her Afro, plus their shared love of antiques.”
Thomas, who is of Dutch-Irish origin, worked on iconic soap operas for years, even winning two Emmys for his lighting skills.
Meghan was born in August, 1981 while the couple was living in Los Angeles. They divorced six years later and the child went to live with Doria, although she still spent time with her dad.
“Every day after school for 10 years, I was on the set of Married ... with Children, which is a really funny and perverse place for a little girl in a Catholic school uniform to grow up,” Meghan told Esquire in 2013. “There were a lot of times my dad would say, ‘Meg, why don’t you go and help with the craft services room over there? This is just a little off-colour for your 11-year-old eyes.’”
In a post shared in 2016 on her now-deleted Instagram account, Meghan gushed over her father.
“Happy Father’s Day, daddy. I’m still your buckaroo, and to this day your hugs are still the very best in the whole wide world,” the star wrote alongside a throwback photo of the two of them.
“Thanks for my work ethic, my love of Busby Berkeley films & club sandwiches, for teaching me the importance of handwritten thank you notes, and for giving me that signature Markle nose. I love you xo -Bean,” she added.
Thomas Senior now lives a quiet life in Mexico, but was reportedly recently persuaded by his eldest daughter Samantha to stage photos with the paparazzi, a ploy which was then exposed, leaving him feeling "humiliated", according to TMZ.
Meanwhile, Meghan is clearly incredibly tight with yoga instructor and social worker Doria, who was photographed hanging out with her daughter and Prince Harry in the VIP box at the Invictus Games in Canada last October.
Meghan once described her mother, who is African-American, as a “free-spirited clinical therapist”. According to the former TV star, her mother took her to visit slums in Jamaica and Mexico when she was just 10 years old in a bid to raise her as a global citizen.
And it seems Harry’s a big fan of Doria too.
In the couple’s official engagement interview last November, the prince described his future mother-in-law as “amazing”, and it’s been reported that he asked for her blessing before proposing to Meghan.
SAMANTHA (GRANT) MARKLE
Barely a week goes by when we don’t hear something from Meghan’s estranged older half-sister.
Samantha Grant, 53, shares a father with Meghan, and while it’s understood they spent time together while growing up, the pair has reportedly been estranged for years.
The former actor and model, who lives in Florida, has been divorced twice and has three children. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2008 and uses a wheelchair.
In 2016, she told the UK’s Mirror that her little sister is “shallow”, “narcissistic” and bent on “social climbing”.
In other interviews, she claimed: “Hollywood has changed her.”
“I think her ambition is to become a princess … The truth would kill her relationship with Prince Harry,” Samantha was quoted as saying.
Samantha offered up some insight into their early family life earlier this year, after criticising Prince Harry for calling the royals “the family [Meghan] never had”.
“Actually she [Meghan] has a large family who were always there with her and for her,” she tweeted afterwards.
“Our household was very normal and when dad and Doria divorced, we all made it so it was like she had two houses.
“No one was estranged — she was just too busy.
“Meg’s family (our family) is complete with sister, brother, aunts, uncles, cousins, and the glue of our family, our amazing completely self-sacrificing father. She always had this family ... Marrying merely extends it.
“She has a large family. She always did. Our dad is amazing and completely self-sacrificing. We made it so that she had two houses. How fun it was!”
Since then, Samantha has apologised to Meghan (via the press) for her regular criticisms and made it clear she was still angling for an invitation to the royal wedding - which, unsurprisingly, never came.
“I’d be lying to say that I wouldn’t be hurt if I didn’t get an invite but that’s really up to her.”
THOMAS MARKLE JR
Thomas Markle Jr, 50, is also the son of Thomas Markle Sr, Meghan’s father. He’s a few years younger than his sister Samantha, with whom he’s reportedly also estranged.
Both Samantha and Thomas Jr were reportedly living with their father and little sister Meghan while he was married to Doria — up until the pair divorced in 1987.
Thomas Jr now has two children of his own — Meghan’s nephews — from a previous marriage which lasted 11 years. He lives in Oregon and works as a window fitter.
Thomas Jr has had a few run-ins with the law in recent years. In 2012, he was arrested for allegedly holding a gun to a woman’s head during a drunken argument.
More recently, he was thrown in jail for two days after a drunken brawl with his fiancee Darlene Blount on New Year’s Eve. Last year, he was also arrested for brandishing a gun at her during another drunken fight.
Thomas Jr hit out at Meghan early this year for denying she knows him after he asked her for protection from the media.
“She said, ‘That’s distant family and I don’t know those people.’ That’s pretty harsh,” Thomas Jr. told In Touch magazine.
But according to big sister Samantha, he hasn’t even spoken to Meghan since they were kids.
“They weren’t close. The last time Tom saw Meg they were 12,” she said.
She also revealed that Thomas Jr has a history of alcohol and substance abuse.
NOELLE RASMUSSEN
Meghan’s niece Noelle Rasmussen jumped to the future royal’s defence last year after her own mother criticised her.
The 19-year-old daughter of Samantha Grant is also not on speaking terms with her mum, who she claims is “abusive” and a “liar”.
In an interview, Noelle claimed her mother’s tell-all book, The Diary Of Princess Pushy’s Sister, would be fuelled by hate and her longstanding jealousy of her half-sister.
“You can essentially write a book full of lies but it’s not a tell-all. It’s literally just going to be her versions, her ramblings, of things that have happened. None of it is going to be true,” she told the Mail Online.
Noelle, an anthropology student based in Albuquerque, claimed her mother loathes Meghan, and has spent years telling the rest of their family about it.
She said: “When [Meghan] started dating Prince Harry, [Grant] got an interest in Meghan which she had never had before.
“She wanted to be nice, to be friends, to say how much she loves her sister — but after years of telling me and the rest of the family how much she hates Meghan, how much of a narcissist Meghan apparently is and what a horrible woman Meghan is, which isn’t true at all.
“ ... She’s just completely bashed Meghan, said the most horrible things about her to the entire family, and just been completely jealous of her.
“She hasn’t shown her any type of love or appreciation unless she wants money. That’s it.”
According to Noelle, Meghan is a “very, very nice person”.
“She is very sweet, very genuine. She is nothing like my mother. She is actually the complete opposite — she is just a great, great woman.”
ASHLEIGH HALE
Ashleigh Hale, 31, is the other daughter of Samantha Grant, and is said to have been the inspiration behind her aunt Meghan’s character on legal drama Suits.
As a child, Ashleigh was reportedly brought up by her grandparents, along with her brother Christopher, because of personal problems their mother was dealing with at the time.
Before she deleted her social media, Meghan posted photos of herself with Ashleigh, alongside sweet captions praising her pro bono legal work.
In one Twitter post, Meghan promoted Ashleigh’s role with a non-profit organisation called Gray Haven, set up to fight the trafficking of vulnerable adults and children.
She wrote: “Please help victims of human trafficking! Support @thegrayhaven (my niece, Ash, does pro bono work for them!)”
It was accompanied by a photo of Meghan and Ashleigh in the back seat of a car.
In another post, back in 2012, Meghan shared a picture of a bouquet sent to her by Ashleigh.
“The most beautiful flowers from my niece, Ash. xoxo,” she said in the caption.
Last year, before news of Harry and Meghan’s engagement broke and she quit Suits, a source told UK publication Express that the pair have remained close over the years, and catch up whenever they can.
“Meghan has spoken to her about what it’s like to work at a law firm. And if Meghan does marry Prince Harry then Ashleigh will definitely have a starring role in the ceremony.”
TYLER AND THOMAS DOOLEY
Meghan has two nephews, Tyler and Thomas, who have turned up in London ahead of the wedding - despite not being invited.
The boys are 25 and 26, respectively, and are the sons of Meghan's half-brother Thomas Markle Jr and his ex-wife, Tracey Dooley.
Tyler reportedly works on a cannabis farm in Oregon, while it's understood his brother Thomas is a manager at fast-food outlet Domino's.
Both nephews arrived at Heathrow Airport earlier this week, along with their mother. It's believed the trio will be ‘special correspondents’ for the royal wedding on Good Morning Britain.
The boys have not seen their famous aunty in many years and their father has been estranged from his sister since 2011.
Tracy previously told Good Morning Britain she expected to be shunned from the event.
“I don’t think we’re going to get an invite and that’s fine. We’re OK with that and are supporting her. We’re so proud of her.”
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