Meghan Markle's half-sister sets the record straight
Meghan Markle's half-sister, Samantha Grant, wants to dispel rumors about her family resulting from vicious media scrutiny stemming from the royal engagement announcement.
Samantha Grant has some harsh words for her half-sister’s soon-to-be husband Prince Harry.
Grant sounded off on Twitter about the royal, who will be marrying American actress Meghan Markle on May 19. She has previously accused the 33-year-old, who is fifth in line to the throne, of excluding several family members from the upcoming wedding.
“It’s time to ‘man up’ @HRHHenryWindsor,” she tweeted Wednesday. “’Shout outs’ about humanitarianism, don’t work when you are allowing Meg to ignore the Markles. It is contradiction. Someone must point out that the ‘Emperor is not wearing any clothes’”.
This isn’t the first time Grant has slammed Harry. Earlier this month, she slammed 36-year-old half-sibling and her beau for excluding relatives from attending the high-profile celebration. Grant also claimed that she and Markle are 15th cousins with Harry.
“And it’s not only Meg who is 15th cousin to Harry,” she tweeted. “My brother and I are also. I was the first born Markle to my father. Exclude the [Markles] from this wedding would be highly inappropriate.
Grant also shared a family tree which she claimed proved the Markles are related to the royal family.
“At issue is not a matter of closeness as more than 1000 complete strangers are invited,” she said. “Family is family. I have an uncle I have only seen once but I would never say he is not family because we are not close. Humanitarians move forward with love and kindness especially to Family.”
Grant followed up her tweet by saying, “Smoke and mirrors cannot hide the elephant in the room. Out of respect, tradition, and humanitarianism, the #Markles should be invited if 2000 complete strangers are invited. Our uncle who got her the internship, brother, me, best friend of 30 years Nikki Priddy, nephews. Fact.”
However, Grant isn’t the only relative coming forward. Markle’s half-brother Thomas Markle Jr. told UK’s Mirror the family is deeply hurt by the royal wedding snub.
“She’s clearly forgotten her roots,” said the 51-year-old. “It’s torn my entire family apart. Meg likes to portray herself as a humanitarian, a people’s person and a charitable person, but she is none of those things to her family.
"She is giving the greatest performance of her life. She is acting phony. Once she got into Hollywood she turned into a different person. She’s clearly forgotten her roots and her family.”
Thomas added, “Maybe the normal American family she has is embarrassing to her because we’re not producers and executive producers. There’s a whole different side of her that has started to surface and it’s ugly to see.”
Thomas went on to claim Markle is attempting to emulate Harry’s mother, the late Princess Diana.
“I’ve read that Meg wants to be like Diana,” he said. “Diana was worshipped by everyone in the world. She was loved for the right reasons. That’s what Meg wants, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. She is not genuine like Diana.”
Thomas said he is hurt over not receiving an invitation to the royal wedding.
“I’m not bitter, just baffled,” he said. “It’s hurtful given how close we once were. I’m confused and a little distraught because here is a person knowing the position she’s in and knowing the scrutiny she’s under and yet she has forgotten her flesh and blood.
"We were so close back then, but when our grandmother died, she moved to Toronto to start filming ‘Suits’ and I didn’t see her. I haven’t seen her since late 2011.”
Thomas said he has come forward to defend Markle after sister Samantha claimed in October the Hollywood star had ambitions to become a royal long before Harry came along.
“All I can say is… it all started with Samantha,” he said. “That’s how I got involved in this, coming to Meghan’s defense. But trying to put a lid on Samantha and get her to be quiet backfired and started a rift of insults.
"It has torn my entire family apart. None of us has heard a word from Meg and what with all that has been said no longer do I speak to Samantha or my two sons. I had hoped Meg might have appreciated the support I gave, but it’s meant nothing to her, it would seem.”
Thomas believes a recent domestic incident with fiancée Darlene Blount, 37, might be to blame for Markle not reaching out. The Mirror revealed he was detained after a drunken altercation led police to be called, but the matter was dropped without charges.
“No family is perfect,” he said. “All families have their disputes and troubles… Harry has not exactly been perfect in the past.”
Back in January, Grant told Fox News her brother has been speaking to the media without the family’s consent.
“My brother is out there acting like he’s the spokesman of the family,” she said. “He is estranged from my dad because he sold my dad out to photographers from my uncle’s house and tried to get my fragile uncle to talk.
"He gave up my dad’s whereabouts. In other words, all those rumors out there started by my brother. He claimed he would walk Meg down the aisle. That’s more malarkey than I could even imagine to articulate.”
Grant also denied a report made by People magazine claiming her younger sister had no contact with her and hasn’t for more than a decade.
“We spoke in 2014,” she explained. “That doesn’t make us estranged by a decade… When you got someone in the family who is family, just because they jet-set and have a busy, distracting life, it doesn’t mean anyone in the family is estranged… Our families have always been very much in touch. And certainly growing up, we were very close.
“I don’t think speaking with my sister last in 2014 and her saying, ‘I love you babe, let’s keep in touch’ makes us estranged. I think that makes her busy. There are geographical differences between us. It became difficult.”
Grant added she and her family are new to the spotlight and it can be difficult to cope with the worldwide interest in their personal lives.
“As much as I love and respect Meg, she’s got security and a publicist and can be protected from all that,” she said. “She and Harry can tell the media to stop. The rest of the family doesn’t have that luxury. I love her, [but] she may not want me saying anything.
“I refuse to be a victim of the media. I’m not going to let them disparage me, embarrass me personally and professionally and not defend myself… I can only hope she would respect and understand that… In fact, if I were Meg, I would probably put something out there so that there was some sort of protective mechanism in place where the family couldn’t be tortured as much.”
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