Meghan Markle's half-siblings have spoken out in the wake of her and Prince Harry's bombshell docuseries.
The six-episode Netflix project - of which the first three were released on Thursday (December 8) - has so far focused on the couple's controversial exit from their duties as senior British royals, as well as Harry's frustration at the media-driven witch-hunts orchestrated against both Princess Diana and Meghan.
Its release polarized many viewers, with some welcoming 38-year-old Harry and 41-year-old Meghan's bravery in sharing their story. "I'm so incredibly proud of Harry and Meghan for telling their own story for themselves. It takes a lot of courage and bravery, but they aren't backing down from owning their own lives and the right to own their voices," one person tweeted.
Others believed it reflected badly on the monarchy and were upset at the couple's depiction of the British media as racist.
British broadcaster Piers Morgan tweeted: "Bro, what makes my country look bad is a pair of greedy royal renegade grifters running around trashing Britons as a bunch of racists."
Among the critics were Meghan's half-siblings, whom she revealed in the series that she never had a close bond with. Speaking to Talk TV, Meghan's older half-brother Thomas Markle Jr. and her older half-sister Samantha both revealed that they were "offended" by Prince Harry's remark about Meghan's father.
Prince Harry had stated that he blamed himself for the highly-publicized rift she had with her father, who did not attend their 2018 nuptials. "If Meg wasn't with me then her dad would still be her dad. She had a father before this and now she doesn't have a father. And I shouldered that," he said.
Thomas Markle Jr. hit out at this statement, stating via the Daily Mail: "I think it's horrible. The documentary is so far off on so many different levels, it's really a little bit disturbing. Saying that she doesn't have a family and she doesn't have a father, and Harry saying that she has no father now, that's just ridiculous."
He then stated that his side of the family will be releasing their own documentary, adding: "She just basically brushed the entire family under the carpet like we don't exist, and then lied about not having a family, and lied about she doesn't have a family that she's always wanted.
"We've always been here. The documentary is way off. That's what's actually prompted me to work with my own production team and coming out in like 2023, our side of a documentary that's going to shed a lot of light that needs to be shed."
"The amount of unprecedented files, photos and videos, and documentation that we're going to be including in our documentary - it's going to tell a whole different story. I think the general public in the UK and America knows that now the Markles aren't bad people, we're just like a normal family like everybody else," he continued.
Samantha agreed, telling GB News (via Express): "He's been through so much - two heart attacks and a stroke - and she enabled this, watched it, did nothing about it, and for Harry to say something like that is egregious."
The continuation of Harry and Meghan's series will be aired on Netflix from December 15.
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