Meghan, Duchess of Sussex could be facing more embarrassment after her estranged father Thomas Markle threatened to air more ‘dirty laundry’ in a new televised interview, airing Sunday.
In a teaser from the ’60 Minutes’ exclusive, Markle is seen telling reporter Tom Steinfort that he only learned of Meghan giving birth to his grandchild over the radio; Prince Harry and Meghan welcomed their second child Lilibet Diana on June 4.
“You want dirty laundry? This is the first time I’ve ever discussed these things,” Markle, a former Hollywood lighting director, is seen saying in the teaser, adding that he hasn’t spoken to his daughter since two days before her wedding into the British royal family in 2018.
“I made one dumb mistake,” Markle says at one point in the 43-second teaser, adding: “I’ll be very disappointed that I don’t get to hold my granddaughter.”
This isn’t the first time Markle has addressed his daughter through the press. In March of this year, days after the bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview with Prince Harry and Meghan, Markle appeared on ‘Good Morning Britain’ where he stated that his entire family had been ghosted by Meghan following her marriage into the royal family, but he continues to love her even today.
The estranged father also addressed the statement made by Meghan during the interview where she revealed she had contemplated suicide while pregnant with her son Archie. “I’ve been pushed around and knocked down for one thing I did. For one big mistake I made and I have apologised for it as many times as I possibly can. However, I love my daughter very much. Had I known that she’d been having psychological problems, I would have been there for her,” Markle said on ‘GMB’.
Addressing his daughter’s call for help during her pregnancy, Markle further added: “The biggest problem here is that she pretty much ghosted all of her family. On her mother’s side and my side. So, she really had no one to reach out to. She would’ve had us if she kept us.”
Markle claimed he was upset when he heard of his daughter all alone and harbouring such dark thoughts. “It really did upset me. Like I said, she could have reached out to anyone in her family who she claims she doesn’t know but the other thing is, I would think she could turn to her husband.”
Markle also stated he wished to end the rift with Meghan. “I have never stopped loving my daughter. I don’t always agree with the things my children do, but I never stop loving my children. She can be angry with me … but I’m still her dad and if you ever read Tig [Meghan’s former blog], there’s a thing on Tig where she talks about me. And she makes a statement where she says there should be more guys like my dad. So, there must be some good left here somewhere.”
During her sit down with Winfrey in March of this year, the Duchess of Sussex spoke about her distance with her father in the lead up to the wedding in 2018. “There was such an obsession about anything in my world, including tracking down my parents… Once they did, I remember being told there was a huge headline like, ‘We found him’ or ‘We’ve got him.’ You’re talking about someone’s father. And from that point, the tabloids, they moved into the apartment next door and across from him. Descended on this small town, which is giving him gifts. The whole thing brings us to where we are today,” Meghan said.
When Winfrey prodded further, asking Meghan whether she felt betrayed by her father for eventually speaking to the UK tabloids, Meghan said she did not know if she was comfortable “even talking about that.”
She further added: “If we were going to use the word betrayal, it’s because when I asked him, when we were told by the comms team, this is a story that was going to be coming out, which, by the way, the tabloids had apparently known for a month or so and decided to hold until the Sunday before our wedding because they wanted to create drama, which is also a really key point in all this. The tabloids do not report news, they create the news.”
Markle was set to walk Meghan down the aisle during the 2018 church ceremony, but dropped out after the British press reported he was paid to pose for photos that showed him getting measured for his wedding suit and making other preparations. Ultimately, Prince Charles walked Meghan down the aisle at the wedding, with Markle later stating he regretted pulling the stunt.
Markle has also never met Prince Harry or his other grandchild, Archie.
