Meghan Markle Released a Powerful Statement After Winning Court Appeal Against U.K. Tabloid

On Thursday, December 2, Meghan Markle released a powerful statement after winning a court appeal against the U.K. tabloid The Mail on Sunday, writing, “These harmful practices don’t happen once in a blue moon—they are a daily fail that divide us, and we all deserve better.”

Markle filed a privacy and copyright infringement case against the tabloid’s publisher Associated Newspapers. As People reports, The Duchess of Sussex sued The Mail on Sunday for “invasion of privacy, infringement of data protection rights and copyright infringement for printing extracts of what her lawyers describe as a ‘private and confidential letter sent to her father, Thomas Markle, in August 2018.'” 

Per NBC, senior judge Geoffrey Vos said the contents of Markle’s letter to her father “were personal, private, and not matters of legitimate public interest.”

You can read Meghan Markle’s full statement below:

“This is a victory not just for me, but for anyone who has ever felt scared to stand up for what’s right. While this win is precedent setting, what matters most is that we are now collectively brave enough to reshape a tabloid industry that conditions people to be cruel, and profits from the lies and pain that they create.

From day one, I have treated this lawsuit as an important measure of right versus wrong. The defendant has treated it as a game with no rules. The longer they dragged it out, the more they could twist facts and manipulate the public (even during the appeal itself), making a straightforward case extraordinarily convoluted in order to generate more headlines and sell more newspapers—a model that rewards chaos above truth. In the nearly three years since this began, I have been patient in the face of deception, intimidation, and calculated attacks.

Today, the courts ruled in my favor—again—cementing that The Mail on Sunday, owned by Lord Jonathan Rothermere, has broken the law. The courts have held the defendant to account, and my hope is that we all begin to do the same. Because as far removed as it may seem from your personal life, it’s not. Tomorrow it could be you. These harmful practices don’t happen once in a blue moon—they are a daily fail that divide us, and we all deserve better.”

This is a major victory for Markle, who has been the target of British tabloids since she joined the royal family in 2018. Both Markle and her husband, Prince Harry, have continued to call out the media for its cruel practices. In November, Prince Harry criticized the media’s treatment of Markle, calling the term “Megxit” misogynistic.