Tell-All Book ‘Finding Freedom’ Just Got Pulled into Meghan Markle’s Ongoing Legal Battle
Meghan Markle’s ongoing battle with the media continues. And now, a new biography is getting pulled into the mix.
Called Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family, the tell-all book contains a variety of stories about the couple. However, both the Duke and Duchess of Sussex claim they had nothing to do with it. In July, a spokesperson released a statement on behalf of the duo, which read: “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were not interviewed and did not contribute to Finding Freedom. This book is based on the authors’ own experiences as members of the royal press corps and their own independent reporting.”
Now the book is getting pulled into one of the Duchess of Sussex’s ongoing lawsuits with the Associated Newspapers Limited, which Markle sued last year for breach of privacy and infringement of copyright after it published a personal letter written to her father. New documents submitted to the court reveal that the publisher is alleging that the duchess co-operated with the book’s authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand and is hoping to use this information as a possible defense.
Part of the papers state that Markle “caused or permitted information to be provided directly or indirectly to, and co-operated with, the authors of the Book, including by giving or permitting them to be given information about the Letter, before the publication of the Articles complained about; and giving or permitting them to be given a great deal of other information about her personal life, in order to set out her own version of events in a way that is favorable to her.”
Of course, the 39-year-old’s legal team filed their own responses to the court documents, asking the judge to dismiss the publisher’s attempt at a new defense, calling it “bad in law” and full of misinformation.
“When properly analyzed, the proposed new case must be refused because it is bad in law, manifestly lacking in proper particulars or a proper evidential basis, riddled with factual inaccuracies and can be seen to be shadowy and lacking in bona fides,” part of the statement reads, per Town & Country.
“The proposition that by causing or permitting such information to be published in a Book the Claimant had forfeited her right to privacy in respect of the highly sensitive contents of the Letter should not be one that the Court takes seriously.” They also point out that letters are a “peculiarly intimate aspect of a person’s private life. Very strong reasons would be needed to deprive the contents of a letter of this kind of its private character, going beyond the mere sharing of (for example) a brief description of the letter, or of other personal information relating to other aspects of the claimant’s life.”
Things are getting complicated, to say the least.
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