NEWSInside Meghan & Thomas Markle's Relationship Through The Years
May 30 2022, Published 6:00 p.m. ET
Meghan Markle hasn't had the best relationship with her father, Thomas Markle, over the years.
Growing up, the former lighting director claimed that he was close with his little girl. (He has two other kids, Thomas Markle Jr. and Samantha Markle from a previous relationship.)
But when the 40-year-old started dating Prince Harry, things got complicated.
"The Meghan I know was always sweet, kind, generous. She was always demanding but never rude. I don't want to say or do anything to hurt my daughter, but I worry she is going to hurt herself," he told the Mail on Sunday in 2018.
Then, when Meghan and Harry announced they were stepping down from the royal family in 2020, Thomas was less than pleased with his daughter's decision.
"With Meghan and Harry separating from the royals, it's disappointing to me because she actually got every girl's dream. Every young girl wanted to become a princess and she got that and now she's tossing that away. ... It looks like she's tossing that away for money," he stated.
In March 2021, Meghan and Harry spoke to Oprah Winfrey about their time in the palace, and they claimed that someone was "concerned" over Archie's skin color.
Queen Elizabeth released a statement, and Thomas also weighed in on the comments.
"I have great respect for the royals, and I don't think the British royal family are racist at all," he declared. "I don't think the British are racist. I think Los Angeles is racist, California is a racist, but I don't think the Brits are."
"The thing about what color will the baby be or how dark will the baby be, I'm guessing and hoping it's just a dumb question from somebody," he continued.
The Suits star also touched upon her relationship with her father, which she said combusted when he lied to her about working with the paparazzi prior to her 2018 wedding.
"If we're going to use the word betrayal, it's because when we were told by the comms. team that this was going to be a story coming out – the tabloids had apparently known for a month or so and decided to hold until the Sunday before our wedding to create drama, which is also really key in all of this," she explained.
"We called my dad and I asked him and he said, 'No, absolutely not [I didn't talk to the tabloids],'" Meghan shared. "I said, 'You know, the institution has never intervened for anything for us but they can try to go in and kill this story, but if they do this once, we're not going to be able to use this leverage to protect our own kids one day.' I said, 'I just need you to tell me the truth and we can help.' And he wasn't able to do that."
"That, for me, has really resonated, especially now as a mother," she concluded. "I look at Archie and think about this child and I go, 'I genuinely can't imagine doing anything to intentionally cause pain to my child; I can't imagine it.' So, it's hard for me to reconcile that."
After the interview, Thomas said, "I wish I hadn't done the whole thing. But here's the other side ... It's like no one took any time to protect any member of our family. We were attacked by the press every day — my oldest daughter, my son, myself, my grandchildren — all of us were attacked by the press. Nobody was there to care for us. No one looked after us."
In June 2021, when Meghan gave birth to daughter Lilibet, Thomas claimed he never received the news from his daughter.
“No phone calls, I just heard it on the radio,” he alleged to 60 Minutes Australia. “I haven’t spoken to [Meghan] since two days before they got married.”The former lighting designer added: “I’m not a tearful type … but I’m certainly hurt by a lot of it. There’s a good chance I might never see my grandchildren.”
One month later, Thomas claimed he was going to take action against his daughter so he could see his grandchildren. “I will be petitioning the California courts for the rights to see my grandchildren in the very near future," he said at the time.
Recently, Thomas suffered a stroke, but it sounds like Meghan hasn't reached out to him — something Samantha is enraged about. "He’s been through so much," the 57-year-old stated. "Two heart attacks, a pandemic and now a stroke. None of us have heard from Meghan – that’s negligence."
