Meghan Markle may have just been caught in a lie.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex repeatedly denied any part in the writing of biography Finding Freedom, but a new twist has come out of Meghan's legal battle with The Mail on Sunday. Meghan reportedly collaborated with the authors, Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, by leaking personal information through a third party.
Meghan Markle leaked information to Finding Freedom authors
According to court documents published by Hello!, Meghan's defense team accepted that she asked a friend to approach the Finding Freedom authors on her complicated relationship with her father, Thomas Markle Sr.
"Meghan was concerned that her father's narrative in the media that she had abandoned him" would be repeated in the book, the court papers read. "Accordingly, she indicated to a person whom she knew had already been approached by the authors that the true position as above... could be communicated to the authors to prevent any future misrepresentation."
The Duchess added that she does not know the extent to which this information was shared with Scobie and Durand, but these statements appear to conflict with earlier denials of any involvement with the writing of Finding Freedom, directly or indirectly.
Did Meghan Markle read Finding Freedom before publication?
The Duchess's lawyers also acknowledged that her publicist in the U.S. received a copy of Finding Freedom before its launch in bookstores. The reveals come from Meghan's privacy case against The Mail on Sunday, which she claims unlawfully published a letter she wrote to her father in 2018.
The "preview" of the book was acknowledged after the legal team of Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) alleged that Meghan had read the manuscript of the book and was able to be able to request changes to it.
Ahead of Finding Freedom's publication, Harry and Meghan released a statement distancing themselves entirely from the work. But since then, details about the book's authorship have cast doubt on that claim—and this new development adds yet another piece of evidence. Finding Freedom became a bestseller shortly after its release in August.