“Enough already!” is what Meghan Markle, 37, reportedly has to say about the madness that’s ensued with her father Thomas Markle, 74, since May. A friend of Prince Harry’s wife is claiming that Meghan was especially hurt after her dad suggested in an interview she’d be better off if he were dead. “For the life of her, she can’t understand why he’s digging such a deep hole for himself and to say things like, ‘It would be easier for her if her dad died,'” the friend shared with the Daily Mail in an Aug. 8 article. The pal added, “She said she just wishes her dad would ‘stop blathering’ to the press. That’s the one birthday gift she wanted from her father.”
Instead, before Meghan’s birthday on Aug. 4, the retired cinematographer and lighting director gifted his daughter with more unfavorable publicity. Thomas poured his grievances over an almost nine-hour phone call – which took three days – with The Mail on Sunday that the U.K. newspaper published on July 28. Among other things, he claimed Meghan has “cruelly excised him from her life,” which he’s “really hurt” about. Before that, Meghan allegedly cut contact with her father after he publicly badmouthed the royal family and also appeared on Good Morning Britain, following her royal wedding on May 19. Thomas was reportedly paid for the on-air interview but “it wasn’t about the money,” the show’s co-host Piers Morgan, 53, told Entertainment Tonight.
It’s been three months since Meghan’s spoken with her father, and she reportedly intends to keep it that way. “Meghan has no immediate plans to contact her father. Firstly, she’s deeply hurt and secondly she can’t trust him to keep their conversation private,” the friend shared. “Meghan is big on being true to herself and taking care of herself, and if this means avoiding toxic relationships so be it. It’s not like she’s never ever going to speak with her dad again, but certainly not now, not in this climate.”
According to the friend, this isn’t Meghan’s first experience with “emotional blackmail.” The insider said, “Behavior like his doesn’t happen overnight. Why do you think her parents got divorced in the first place?” Thomas divorced Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland, 61, in 1988. “Meghan’s had to deal with a lot of self-esteem issues growing up with a narcissist. She has tools to cope with emotional blackmail.” Meghan is reportedly praying for her estranged father, but won’t fall “for her dad’s crocodile tears” because she’s “been down that road far too many times before,” the friend concludes. HollywoodLife has reached out to Meghan Markle’s rep for a comment.