Following his daughter’s wedding to Prince
Harry, Meghan Markle’s father has been doing
a number of interviews in the media and blasting
the royal family. His motives for doing so
have been questioned a number of times and
people are beginning to wonder if he truly
doesn’t understand how he’s coming off
or if money is the reason he won’t stop
talking. Here’s more on Thomas Markle’s
finances and how much he’s reportedly making
off his daughter’s fame.
The former actress’ dad has given one scathing
interview after another and while one in particular
with the Daily Mail was reportedly done without
an exchange of cash, that hasn’t been the
case with all of them. Markle Sr. admitted
himself that he was paid to take paparazzi
photos that were staged prior to the royal
wedding. However, he claimed that he didn’t
do it for money but rather to repair his image
because photographers had only snapped unflattering
pictures of him.
“They’d take photos of me grabbing a beer,
take photos of me getting into my car … they’d
take photos of me making me look negative,”
he said.
There’s no good excuse though for him talking
to the press about his daughter and her husband
on several other occasions and accepting payouts
for thousands of dollars to do so.
Less than a month after the world watched
Meghan marry Prince Harry, Markle Sr. gave
an interview to ITV’s Good Morning Britain
for a reported $10,000. However, other sites
have said the amount was actually much higher.
In addition, Markle has continued his own
personal media tour with TMZ as well as tabloids
in Britain for undisclosed amounts. In every
interview, he seems more and more bitter when
talking about Meghan and her in-laws so it
appears at this point that he’s just selling
his daughter out.
When Meghan was growing up her father made
a living as a lighting director who worked
on the sets of popular TV shows such as Married…
With Children and General Hospital.
In 1990, he won $750,000 in the California
State Lottery. Unfortunately, bad investments
later caused him to file for bankruptcy but
not before using some of the money to pay
for Meghan’s Catholic school tuition.
In 2016, he declared bankruptcy over $30,000.
Some of his debts listed included $850 on
a Target card, $6,000 on a Citibank card,
and around $20,000 on a Discover account.
When it comes to means of income, Markle Sr.
said he collects $1,500 per month from a retirement
account and another $2,700 in social security.
So for one interview, he’s made more than
double his entire month’s income but that
may have cost him his relationship with his
daughter.
Sources said that both the Duke and Duchess
of Sussex are very “frustrated he keeps
speaking to the tabloids and taking payment
for interviews.”
As for how the rest of the royals feel about
the situation, journalist Katie Nicholl said
that they have a strategy for dealing with
this kind of drama.
“The strategy at Kensington Palace is, ‘Say
nothing, don’t dignify these comments, these
interviews, these articles with a response,’”
she said, adding, “the royal family has
had more than their fair share of scandals.
This won’t faze them.”
