Since she began dating Prince Harry, Meghan Markle has lived many different lives. First, she was a blogger and actor. Then, she stepped away to transform into a duchess and royal when she married Harry in 2018. She has been a friend and peer to celebs like Adele and Priyanka Chopra, and she occupies roles like mother, wife, daughter, and daughter-in-law. Now, she has stepped back from royal life to focus on her family and entrepreneurship.
Life in the spotlight was definitely for Meghan. When the couple left their royal posts in 2020, they moved to the U.S. to return to regular life despite maintaining their celebrity status. But the one hat Meghan hasn’t publicly discussed much is that she is a keeper of many secrets that are unrelated to her royal in-laws and instead reveal some pretty scandalous truths about her own relatives. Here are the Markle family’s darkest secrets that they want to keep hidden from the public.
Meghan Markle’s father staged pre-wedding photos, sold her letters, and faced numerous shocking allegations
It’s commonly known that Meghan Markle is estranged from her father, Thomas, and the relationship was put under a microscope as soon as Harry and Meghan announced their engagement in 2017. In 2018, tabloids exposed that Thomas hired a photography agency to stage photos related to the wedding prep, with shots of him at Starbucks, at an internet cafe researching the royal couple, working out to lose weight, and getting measured for his wedding outfit.
Even more cringe-worthy, the tailor wasn’t a tailor at all. It was a 17-year-old student who worked at a party supply store and got hired to help out. Thomas admitted that he staged the photos to improve his public image and that the mission didn’t exactly work out. He also admitted that he sold a private letter his daughter wrote to him to the tabloids. It chronicled how she begged him to stop communicating with and “taking bait” from the press and “exploiting” her relationship with her husband.
In the past, Thomas Markle’s son alleged that their father would “snort cocaine” in front of them, but mostly acted “very distant,” “secretive,” and “grumpy,” as well as going to Thailand multiple times to sleep with escorts.
Meghan’s half-sister spilled the tea in a book (and her car accident may have been fake)
Samantha Markle wrote The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister Part 1, where she claimed that Meghan was ungrateful for their dad’s early financial help, calling her “belittling and controlling.” She claimed that her younger sibling “got whatever she wanted and needed.” Despite painting the royals in a negative light, Samantha claimed she didn’t want to attack her sister or “put garbage into the universe” regardless of rumors in the news, but actions speak louder than words.
Additionally, despite her boyfriend telling TMZ that she fractured her knee and broke her ankle in a car accident while trying to escape from the paparazzi, saying the car hit a concrete barrier, Florida police couldn’t find the report a day later. The police stated that the couple may have been charged with a “hit-and-run misdemeanor” if they did, in fact, hit stationary property, but since there’s no evidence, it looks like the story was possibly made up.
Meghan’s ex has unkind words to say about her
One of the reasons Meghan Markle first stirred gossip when she entered the spotlight was that she was the first divorcée to join the royal family. Before Harry, she was married to literary manager and film producer Trevor Engelson for two years. The relationship reportedly ended due to Meghan’s Suits filming schedule, causing strain. While some thought the split was amicable, a friend of both of them told a royal biographer that Meghan ended the marriage because she treated her ex like he “was a piece of something stuck to the bottom of her shoe.”
She reportedly blindsided her ex with the decision to end it, and her former best friend, Ninaki Priddy, said she ended the friendship based on how Meghan treated Trevor, saying, “The way she handled it, Trevor definitely had the rug pulled out from under him. He was hurt.”
Rumors called Meghan a snob
Another surprising rumor is that anonymous sources have said that, despite leaving the royals, Meghan and Harry will never be normal again and that, since her newfound fame, Meghan thinks she’s above her family, and interactions are fake. One source said, “We’re clearly in different social classes, and we won’t ever talk again. You shouldn’t have to be someone you’re not, or belong to a certain class, to be accepted and loved. I’m not chasing after someone who doesn’t want to talk to me. I have my own family, and we couldn’t be happier sharing the love that we have.” The source added that Meghan’s lack of contact with relatives is “her choice.”
Markle’s nephews took advantage of her fame and have a felony record
One of Meghan’s nephews, Thomas Dooley, has been arrested for “unruly” behavior under the influence of drugs, screaming in the streets while wearing only a towel. He was later recorded being interviewed by police fully nude, and was charged with a felony for resisting arrest. A former ex of Dooley told tabloids that he had developed a meth addiction after divorcing his husband.
Another nephew, Tyler Dooley, works in the cannabis industry, which is quite normal, especially given that it’s legal in California, but it is odd that he decided to make a name for himself right before his aunt’s wedding and also named a cannabis strain after her, dubbing it “Markle Sparkle.”
Multiple family members filed for bankruptcy
In 2016, Thomas Markle Sr. filed for bankruptcy after poor investments and family feuds left him broke. He filed for bankruptcy a total of three times, living off a tiny retirement fund and Social Security. Markle’s siblings have also filed for bankruptcy, with Thomas Markle Jr. having reportedly $88,000 in debt when he filed. And while Meghan Markle is close with her mother, who doesn’t share the sordid pasts of other family members, she also filed for bankruptcy when a boutique she owned in Los Angeles failed.
